quotations about fear
Of all the mental and physical polluters of life, nothing exercises such a poisonous effect as fear.
ELBERT HUBBARD
The American Bible
Fear is never an actuality; it is either before or after the active present. When there is fear in the active present, is it fear? It is there and there is no escape from it, no evasion possible. There, at that actual moment, there is total attention at the moment of danger, physical or psychological. When there is complete attention there is no fear. But the actual fact of inattention breeds fear; fear arises when there is an avoidance of the fact, a flight; then the very escape itself is fear.
JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI
On Fear
Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man's self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.
AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Freedom from Fear
Nothing like fear to wash your mind clean.
LAURELL K. HAMILTON
Guilty Pleasures
In one way fear is also God's daughter, redeemed on the night of Holy Friday. She is not beautiful to look at -- oh no! -- ridiculed at times, at others cursed, disowned by everyone ... and yet, make no mistake about it, she is present at every deathbed--she is man's intercessor.
GEORGES BERNANOS
Heroic Face of Innocence: Three Stories
Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.
DANIEL DEFOE
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
I would describe a hero as a person who has no fear of life, who can face life squarely.
ALEXANDER LOWEN
Fear of Life
Fear is another emotion that is strongly suppressed. We cannot afford to be afraid, and so we don't allow ourselves to sense and feel the fear within us. We lower our brows to deny it, set our jaws to defy it, and smile to deceive ourselves. But inwardly we remain scared to death.
ALEXANDER LOWEN
Fear of Life
Fear is a funny thing. It's one of our most basic human instincts, intended to protect us from all those dangers that might cause us harm and to jolt us to action when a threat becomes imminent. And yet that same fear can also be an invisible chain that ties us down and keeps us stuck. Instead of keeping us safe, it paralyzes us and prevents us from moving forward, from taking risks or putting ourselves out there, from having the courage to follow our dreams and create a life we love.
RUTH SOUKUP
"The 7 Fear Archetypes & How To Figure Out Yours", Mind Body Green, May 21, 2019
Though it may arrive with shocking suddenness, horror devours its prey slowly. Through hours of days and years, it spreads its sullen darkness into every corner of the being it has conquered.
JOSEPHINE HART
Damage
Leaders who feed fear typically are also ones who avoid facts.
BARACK OBAMA
Newsweek, April 29, 2019
A thing may be dreaded as long as it has not overtaken you.
CHANAKYA
Vridda-Chanakya
Fear is good in small amounts, but when it is a constant companion, it cuts away at who you are and makes it hard to do what you know is right.
CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI
Inheritance
In regard to the great mass of men, anything that breaks the realm of fear is not salutary, but dangerous; because it takes off one of the hoops that hold the barrel together in which the evil spirits are confined.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.
SENECA
Epistles
Fear breeds upon itself because it is a hermaphrodite capable of endless reproduction. Fear is a contagious disease, spreading from its first victim to others in the vicinity until it is powerful enough to take charge of a group, in which event it becomes panic. Fear is the afterbirth of reason and calculation. It takes time to recuperate from fear.
ERNEST K. GANN
Fate is the Hunter
Fear the man who's feared of you.
KEN ALSTAD
Savvy Sayin's
Fear will keep you alive; indifference won't.
LAURELL K. HAMILTON
The Killing Dance
Something indefinite is always worse than something definite, a strong fear that doesn't last very long is easier than one that's nebulous but doesn't go away.
STEFAN ZWEIG
The Post Office Girl
Fear was there, too, cold and hot at the same time, making everything in the plain room sharper, with fewer shadows.
ALLISON BRENNAN
Fear No Evil