A life of action and danger moderates the dread of death. It not only gives us fortitude to bear pain, but teaches us at every step the precarious tenure on which we hold our present being.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Anxiety is fear of one’s self.
—Wilhelm Stekel (1868–1940) Austrian Physician, Psychologist
Things done well and with care, exempt themselves from fear.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Often I have found that the one thing that can save is the thing which appears most to threaten … one has to go down into what one most fears and in that process … comes a saving flicker of light and energy that, even if it does not produce the courage of a hero, at any rate enables a trembling mortal to take one step further.
—Laurens van der Post (1906–96) South African-born British Leader, Educator, Author
A warrior of the light…never confuses tension with anxiety.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
Every time I start a picture … I feel the same fear, the same self-doubts … and I have only one source on which I can draw, because it comes from within me.
—Federico Fellini (1920–93) Italian Filmmaker
Anxiety is the rust of life, destroying its brightness and weakening its power. A childlike and abiding trust in Providence is its best preventive and remedy.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
To tremble before anticipated evils, is to bemoan what thou hast never lost.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
He who fears death cannot enjoy life.
—Spanish Proverb
No one can work and achieve efficiently with a pack of worries on his back. People who enjoy life and radiate their happiness fear nothing. Fear never has led, and never will lead, a man victoriously in any phase of life … . A cheerful frame of mind, reenforced by relaxation, which in itself banishes fatigue, is the medicine that puts all Ghosts of fear on the run! So, get fun out of what you do—and you will do much, and be glad that you are alive.
—George Matthew Adams (1878–1962) American Newspaper Columnist, Founder of Adams Service
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real.
—Unknown
When in fear, it is safest to force the attack.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
There is often less danger in the things we fear than in the things we desire.
—John Churton Collins (1848–1908) British Literary Critic, Writer
Proust has pointed out that the predisposition to love creates its own objects; is this not also true of fear?
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
When we borrow trouble, and look forward into the future and see what storms are coming, and distress ourselves before they come, as to how we shall avert them if they ever do come, we lose our proper trustfulness in God. When we torment ourselves with imaginary dangers, or trials, or reverses, we have already parted with that perfect love which casteth out fear.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
From a distance it is something; and nearby it is nothing.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
There is no such thing as pure pleasure; some anxiety always goes with it.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
We have a lot of anxieties, and one cancels out another very often.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
A fool without fear is sometimes wiser than an angel with fear.
—Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor (1879–1964) British Politician, Socialite
Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignorance.
—Arnold Glasow (1905–98) American Businessman
What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn’t much better than tedious disease.
—George D. Prentice (1802–70) American Journalist, Editor, Poet
To think that I know what’s best for anyone else is to be out of my business. Even in the name of love, it is pure arrogance, and the result is tension, anxiety, and fear. Do I know what’s right for me? That is my only business. Let me work with that before I try to solve problems for you.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
We walk in circles, so limited by our own anxieties that we can no longer distinguish between true and false, between the gangster’s whim and the purest ideal.
—Ingrid Bergman (1915–82) Swedish Film and Stage Actress
Too busy with the crowded hour to fear to live or die.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Men who fear God face life fearlessly. Men who do not fear God end up fearing everything.
—Richard C. Halverson (1916–95) American Presbyterian Theologians
There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
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