quotations about fear
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
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
The fear in my heart was like in one of those dreams where you try to run but you can't do it, you can't run because the fear is an anchor in your chest.
WALTER MOSLEY
Fear Itself
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
Nothing like fear to wash your mind clean.
LAURELL K. HAMILTON
Guilty Pleasures
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
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
Unpopular Essays
There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
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 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 hath a numerous progeny.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.
SENECA
Epistles
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
FRANK HERBERT
Dune
A thing may be dreaded as long as it has not overtaken you.
CHANAKYA
Vridda-Chanakya
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 secretes acids.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Life Thoughts
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
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
If there is one thing which I would banish from the earth it is fear.
HENRY FORD
Theosophist Magazine, Feb. 1930
Fear will bind you closer than love, or hate, and it works a hell of a lot quicker.
LAURELL K. HAMILTON
Guilty Pleasures