Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

fear

You always have two choices: your commitment versus your fear.

But what is all this fear of and opposition to Oblivion? What is the matter with the soft Darkness, the Dreamless Sleep?

Do not look upon this world with fear and loathing. Bravely face whatever the gods offer.

Expose yourself to your deepest fear after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.

Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.

Fear is, I believe, a most effective tool in destroying the soul of an individual - and the soul of a people.

Fear makes us feel our humanity.

He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure.

How does one kill fear, I wonder? How do you shoot a specter through the heart, slash off its spectral head, take it by its spectral throat?

How strange this fear of death is! We are never frightened at a sunset.

I have no fear of photography as long as it cannot be used in heaven and in hell.

I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.

Let the fear of a danger be a spur to prevent it he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger.

Let us banish fear.

Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.

Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.

One had to take some action against fear when once it laid hold of one.

Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war but on the love of peace.

Perhaps life is just that... a dream and a fear.

Some men love truth so much that they seem to be in continual fear lest she should catch a cold on overexposure.

Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.

That fear first created the gods is perhaps as true as anything so brief could be on so great a subject.

The appeal of cinema lies in the fear of death.

The first duty of man is to conquer fear he must get rid of it, he cannot act till then.

We fear violence less than our own feelings. Personal, private, solitary pain is more terrifying than what anyone else can inflict.

When I have a camera in my hand, I know no fear.

Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood.

All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.

All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few.

Courage consists not in hazarding without fear but being resolutely minded in a just cause.

Cruelty is a tyrant that's always attended with fear.

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.

Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear.

Fear is excitement without breath.

Fear is the foundation of safety.

Fear of the future is worse than one's present fortune.

God helps those who fear Him.

Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear.

Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen.

He that hopes no good fears no ill.

I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.

I fear God and next to God I mostly fear them that fear him not.

I hasten to laugh at everything, for fear of being obliged to weep.

I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.

I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.

It may be you fear more to deliver judgment upon me than I fear judgment.

Let no man fear to die, we love to sleep all, and death is but the sounder sleep.

Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path.

Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other.

Nature soaks every evil with either fear or shame.

No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service.

No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.

Our country is now geared to an arms economy bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and an incessant propaganda of fear.

Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes adversity not without many comforts and hopes.

Scalded cats fear even cold water.

The fear of life is the favorite disease of the 20th century.

The more knowledge you have, the greater will be your fear of Allah.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

The thirst for powerful sensations takes the upper hand both over fear and over compassion for the grief of others.

There is greatness in the fear of God, contentment in faith of God, and honour in humility.

There is no nation so powerful, as the one that obeys its laws not from principals of fear or reason, but from passion.

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

We often pretend to fear what we really despise, and more often despise what we really fear.

When you advise any person you should be guided by the fear of God.

Who sows fear, reaps weapons.

Do not fear death so much but rather the inadequate life.

Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back.

Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman.

I expect nothing. I fear no one. I am free.

I fear those big words which make us so unhappy.

I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.

If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.

It is the perpetual dread of fear, the fear of fear, that shapes the face of a brave man.

My aim then was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us.

My fear was not of death itself, but a death without meaning.

Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.

People living deeply have no fear of death.

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.

The thing I fear most is fear.

There is no passion so contagious as that of fear.

There's no reason for the establishment to fear me. But it has every right to fear the people collectively - I am one with the people.

To good and true love fear is forever affixed.

Fear God and work hard.

Fear not, the people may be deluded for a moment, but cannot be corrupted.

I love the name of honor, more than I fear death.

I never dared to be radical when young for fear it would make me conservative when old.

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear, but the pale and the hungry-looking.

It was the experience of mystery - even if mixed with fear - that engendered religion.

No good work is ever done while the heart is hot and anxious and fretted.

The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead.

The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you.

A propensity to hope and joy is real riches one to fear and sorrow real poverty.

An appeal to fear never finds an echo in German hearts.

Crime in full glory consolidates authority by the sacred fear it inspires.

Fear of things invisible in the natural seed of that which everyone in himself calleth religion.

I fear God never showed mercy to one so vile as I.

I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.

In time we hate that which we often fear.

Isn't history ultimately the result of our fear of boredom?

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

Just as courage imperils life, fear protects it.

Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end.

Most fear stems from sin to limit one's sins, one must assuredly limit one's fear, thereby bringing more peace to one's spirit.

My only fear is that I may live too long. This would be a subject of dread to me.

Satirists gain the applause of others through fear, not through love.

That man is prudent who neither hopes nor fears anything from the uncertain events of the future.

The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous it is indissolubly connected with the fate of men.

The fear of being deceived is the vulgar version of the quest for Truth.

The origin of the absurd idea of immortal life is easy to discover it is kept alive by hope and fear, by childish faith, and by cowardice.

The thinner the ice, the more anxious is everyone to see whether it will bear.

There is not a truth existing which I fear... or would wish unknown to the whole world.

Things done well and with a care, exempt themselves from fear.

We fear to know the fearsome and unsavory aspects of ourselves, but we fear even more to know the godlike in ourselves.

When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.

Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.

A man who is not afraid is not aggressive, a man who has no sense of fear of any kind is really a free, a peaceful man.

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

Boredom is... a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it.

Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.

Do not fear mistakes. There are none.

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

Do the thing we fear, and death of fear is certain.

Every move we make in fear of the next war in fact hastens it.

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.

Fear is always a good motivator.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Fear is the passion of slaves.

Fear tastes like a rusty knife and do not let her into your house.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.

How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.

It comes with faith, for with complete faith there is no fear of what faces you in life or death.

It is the privilege of those who fear love to murder those who do not fear it!

Jealousy is the fear of comparison.

Let the fear of danger be a spur to prevent it he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger.

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Love and fear. Everything the father of a family says must inspire one or the other.

Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.

Love, hope, fear, faith - these make humanity These are its sign and note and character.

Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.

My greatest fear: repetition.

Necessity of action takes away the fear of the act, and makes bold resolution the favorite of fortune.

Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.

None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.

Some movie stars wear their sunglasses even in church. They're afraid God might recognize them and ask for autographs.

The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear.

The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.

The results of political changes are hardly ever those which their friends hope or their foes fear.

Those who own much have much to fear.

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

To pity distress is but human to relieve it is Godlike.

An ugly sight, a man who is afraid.

Fear clogs faith liberates.

Fear is stupid. So are regrets.

Fear is the mother of foresight.

Fear is the thought of admitted inferiority.

Having a child, that's always been my biggest fear. I want a child and I fear a child.

He who does not fear death cares naught for threats.

Hunger and fear are the only realities in dog life: an empty stomach makes a fierce dog.

It's the most unhappy people who most fear change.

People with bad consciences always fear the judgment of children.

The secret of life is to have no fear it's the only way to function.

The thing we fear we bring to pass.

There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.

We poison our lives with fear of burglary and shipwreck, and, ask anyone, the house is never burgled, and the ship never goes down.

'Freedom from fear' could be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights.

Action cures fear, inaction creates terror.

As a child, I was more afraid of tetanus shots than, for example, Dracula.

Disease is an experience of a so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the body.

Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire.

Everyone has his faults which he continually repeats: neither fear nor shame can cure them.

Fear of death increases in exact proportion to increase in wealth.

If fear is cultivated it will become stronger, if faith is cultivated it will achieve mastery.

Less base the fear of death than fear of life.

My 'fear' is my substance, and probably the best part of me.

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.

The fear of becoming a 'has-been' keeps some people from becoming anything.

The fear of burglars is not only the fear of being robbed, but also the fear of a sudden and unexpected clutch out of the darkness.

The strongest passion is fear.

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all.

When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.

Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life.

You are going to let the fear of poverty govern you life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live.

You must not fear death, my lads defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks.

Boldness is a mask for fear, however great.

Death in itself is nothing but we fear to be we know not what, we know not where.

Fear is something to be moved through, not something to be turned from.

Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.

He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.

I fear my enthusiasm flags when real work is demanded of me.

I'd rather give my life than be afraid to give it.

Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.

My fear now is of cliche, of complacency, of not being able to feel authenticity in myself and those around me.

No person who is enthusiastic about his work has anything to fear from life.

Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind - even if your voice shakes.

The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.

The Russians feared Ike. They didn't fear me.

The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored.

There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest.

There is nothing that fear and hope does not permit men to do.

To overcome a fear, here's all you have to do: realize the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway.

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear of dying without having laughed at all.

We should laugh before being happy, for fear of dying without having laughed.

A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.

As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers.

Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.

Fear has many eyes and can see things underground.

Fear not, we are of the nature of the lion, and cannot descend to the destruction of mice and such small beasts.

Greed, like the love of comfort, is a kind of fear.

Hate is the consequence of fear we fear something before we hate it a child who fears noises becomes a man who hates noise.

I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

In masks outrageous and austere, The years go by in single file But none has merited my fear, And none has quite escaped my smile.

Only the contemptible fear contempt.

Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences.

The dread of lonliness is greater than the fear of bondage, so we get married.

There are many who dare not kill themselves for fear of what the neighbours will say.

To withdraw is not to run away, and to stay is no wise action, when there's more reason to fear than to hope.

Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared.

Falsehood is invariably the child of fear in one form or another.

Fear has its use but cowardice has none.

Fear is the foundation of most governments.

Fear is the mother of morality.

Fear of death makes us devoid both of valour and religion. For want of valour is want of religious faith.

Few women, I fear, have had such reason as I have to think the long sad years of youth were worth living for the sake of middle age.

He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.

If people would know how little brain is ruling the world, they would die of fear.

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in failure.

It is wisdom in prosperity, when all is as thou wouldn't have it, to fear and suspect the worst.

Only he can take great resolves who has indomitable faith in God and has fear of God.

We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.

Whenever there is fear, you will get wrong figures.

You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind.

A peace that depends on fear is nothing but a suppressed war.

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.

Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it... that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear.

Fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind.

Fear follows crime and is its punishment.

Fear not those who argue but those who dodge.

I don't fear death because I don't fear anything I don't understand. When I start to think about it, I order a massage and it goes away.

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.

I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.

If you want to conquer fear, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

Jealousy is the fear or apprehension of superiority: envy our uneasiness under it.

Love casts out fear, but we have to get over the fear in order to get close enough to love them.

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.

Realists do not fear the results of their study.

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

The only failure one should fear, is not hugging to the purpose they see as best.

The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.

The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government.

There are many victories worse than a defeat.

There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.

There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.

There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope.

There is perhaps nothing so bad and so dangerous in life as fear.

They who have conquered doubt and fear have conquered failure.

Today it is not big business that we have to fear. It is big government.