Quotes About Fear
These are quotes of, about, or related to fear. May you find them interesting, inspiring, thought-provoking, or amusing.
For easy reference, they have been arranged into sub-categories.
Enjoy!
Action | Anticipation | Attachment | Being Present | Change
Courage | Cowardice | Creative Thought | Death | Emotions
Failure | Faith | Fear | Focus | Foreign Policy | Freedom
Fulfillment | Illusion | Learning | Life
& Living | Love |
Motivation | Peace | Perfection | Political Correctness
Problems with Fear | Relationships | Science
Fiction
Self
Acceptance | Self Awareness Sports | Success
Technology | Understanding | The Unknown
Action
(Taking) & Fear
"Fear is nature's warning signal to get busy."
- Henry C. Link
“Fear is a
noose that binds until it strangles.”
- Jean Toomer
“Inaction
breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you
want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and
get busy.”
- Dale Carnegie
“You gain
strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you
really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think
you cannot do.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Anticipation
& Fear
"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."
- Alfred Hitchcock
Attachment
& Fear
"Learn to let go you must, from things you fear to lose."
- Yoda
Being
Present & Fear
“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the
past and fear of the future.”
- Fulton Oursler
"Tomorrow holds no fears
for me, Since I have found today."
- Vivian Yeiser Laramor
Belief
and Fear
"The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear."
- Krishnamurti
“Fear is the mother of morality”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Change
and Fear
“The key to change... is to let go of fear.”
- Rosanne Cash
“I have accepted fear as
a part of life, specifically the fear of change…I have gone ahead despite
the pounding in the heart that says: turn back. . .”
– Erica Jong
Courage and Fear
"Valor grows by daring, fear by holding back. "
- Publilius Syrus
“Courage is not the absence
of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important
than fear.”
- Ambrose Redmoon
"Courage is the complement
of fear. A man who is fearless cannot be courageous. (He is also a fool.)"
- Robert Heinlein
"Courage is not the
towering oak
That sees storms come and go,
It is the fragile blossom
That opens in the snow."
- Alice MacKenzie Swaim
Cowardice
“Fear has its use but cowardice has none.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
Creative
Thought and Fear
"We invent what we love, and what we fear."
- John Irving
"To live a creative life,
we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce
Death
& Fear
"Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is. I
am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?"
- Epicurus
"The day which we fear
as our last is but the birthday of eternity."
-Seneca
"The fear of death follows
from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any
time."
- Mark Twain
"We cannot banish dangers,
but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe
of death."
- David Sarnoff
"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."
- Francis Bacon
"Some people are so
afraid to die that they never begin to live."
- Henry Van Dyke
"People living deeply
have no fear of death."
- Anaiïs Nin
Emotions
and Fear
"He who remains calm while those around him panics. . .
probably doesn't know what is going on."
- Unknown
Fear
of Failure
“Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something.”
- Frederick Smith
Faith
and Fear
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord
is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
- Bible - Psalm 27:1
"Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art
with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
- Bible - Psalms 23:4
"The wise man in the storm
prays to God, not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear.
It is the storm within that endangers him, not the storm without."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The best remedy for
those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere
where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because
only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes
to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature."
- Anne Frank
Fear
(Nature of)
“Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is small.”
- Ruth Gendler
"By action and reaction do
we become strong or weak, according to the character of our thoughts
and mental states. Fear is the deadly nightshade of the mind."
- Edward Walker
“The definition of Puritanism:
The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be having a good time.”
- Henry Louis Mencken
"Fear is not the natural
state of civilized people."
- Aung San Suu Kyi
Focus
and Fear
“What we seek we shall find; what we flee from flees from us.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Fear is a darkroom where
negatives develop.”
- Anonymous
Foreign
Policy
"If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the
essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn
that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's
exciting variety, not something to fear." - Gene Roddenberry
Freedom
& Fear
“Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.”
- Marilyn Ferguson
“Our deepest fear is not
that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond
measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and
fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your
playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are
all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the
glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in
everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.”
- Marianne Williamson
Fulfillment
and Fear
"It's the heart afraid of dying, that never learns to dance; It's
the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance; It's the one
who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give; And the soul afraid of
dying, that never learns to live."
- Bette Midler “The Rose"
“He who is not everyday conquering
some fear has not learned the secret of life.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Heaven's not beyond the
clouds, it's just beyond the fear."
- Garth Brooks
"Fear, if allowed free
rein, would reduce all of us to trembling shadows of men, for whom only
death could bring release."
- John M. Wilson
"Why should we live with
such hurry and waste of life...When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive
that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence,
that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality."
- Henry David Thoreau
Illusion
& Fear
“FEAR is an acronym for 'False Evidence Appearing Real' "
- attributed to many, original source unknown
Learning
& Fear
"Math anxiety: an intense lifelong fear of two trains approaching
each other at speeds of 60 and 80 MPH."
- Rick Bayan
Life
and Living
"Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking
the risk to be alive -- the risk to be alive and express what we really
are."
- Don Miguel Ruiz
"Fear not death, rather
the inadequate life."
- Bertolt Brecht
"Don't Panic."
- Douglas Adams, "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"
Love
and Fear
“Most people have a harder time letting themselves love than finding
someone to love them.”
- Bill Russell
“Love is what we were born
with. Fear is what we learned here.”
- Anonymous
“Loving can cost a lot but
not loving always costs more, and those who fear to love often find
that want of love is an emptiness that robs the joy from life.”
- Merle Shain
"I have loved the stars
too fondly to ever be fearful of the night."
- Sarah Williams
Motivation
& Fear
"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope
for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."
- Albert Einstein
Peace
& Fear
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there
may be in silence."
- Desiderata
Perfection
& Fear
"Have no fear of perfection--you'll never reach it."
-Salvador Dali
Political
Correctness and Fear
"In our century, we've learned not to fear words."
- Lt. Uhura, Star Trek
Problems
with Fear
"My father always had a fear of high altitudes. He'd get a nose
bleed every time he stood on a thick carpet."
- The Danny Kaye Show
Relationships
and Fear
“Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.”
- Shirley MacLaine
“The worst lies are the lies
we tell ourselves. We live in denial of what we do, even what we think.
We do this because we're afraid. We fear we will not find love, and
when we find it we fear we'll lose it. We fear that if we do not have
love we will be unhappy.”
- Richard Bach
"The only time you lie
to someone is when you are afraid."
- John Gotti
"I don't worry about
terrorism. I was married for two years."
-Sam Kinison
"In Space No One Can Hear You Scream."
- Tag line for the movie "Alien"
Self
Acceptance & Fear
"Perhaps the most important thing we can undertake toward the reduction
of fear is to make it easier for people to accept themselves, to like
themselves."
- Bonaro W. Overstreet
Self
Awareness and Fear
"In our deepest moments of struggle, frustration, fear, and confusion,
we are being called upon to reach in and touch our hearts. Then, we
will know what to do, what to say, how to be. What is right is always
in our deepest heart of hearts. It is from the deepest part of our hearts
that we are capable of reaching out and touching another human being.
It is, after all, one heart touching another heart."
- Roberta Sage Hamilton
Sports
& Fear
"Mountain climbing is extended periods of intense boredom, interrupted
by occasional moments of sheer terror."
- Unknown
"Just do it."
- Nike
"The game of life is
a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears,
and score your points when you get the opportunity."
- Unknown
Success
and Fear
“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.”
- Sven Goran Eriksson
“Always do what you are afraid
to do.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You block your dream when
you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.”
- Mary Manin Morrissey
"Fear of success is
one of the new fears I've heard about lately. And I think its definitely
a sign that we're running out of fears. A person suffering from fear
of success is scraping the bottom of the fear barrel."
- Jerry Seinfeld
"Never be afraid to
try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built
the Titanic."
- Unknown
Technology
& Fear
"It's the opinion of some that crops could be grown on the moon.
Which raises the fear that it may not be long before we're paying somebody
not to."
- Franklin Jones
"Dave: Open the pod
bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."
- 2001 A Space Odyssey
Understanding
& Fear
“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”
- Marie Curie
Unknown
(Fear of)
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest
and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
- H. P. Lovecraft
"...The greatest danger
facing us is ourselves, and irrational fear of the unknown. But there's
no such thing as 'the unknown,' only things temporarily hidden, temporarily
not understood."
- Captain Kirk, Star Trek