Fear

"Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears."

"The greatest weakness of all weaknesses is to fear too much to appear weak."

"I fear freedom. I, above all, fear the freedom that is above all feardom."

"I saw the white of fear in America’s eyes. We don’t fear the way we should fear. Our sense of danger should be at the height of our abuse."

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

"The concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear."

"Early and provident fear is the mother of safety."

"There is a courageous wisdom; there is also a false, reptile prudence, the result not of caution but of fear."

"The most drastic and usually the most effective remedy for fear is direct action."

"The fear of some divine and supreme powers keeps men in obedience."

"They are the driven crowds that makes the army of the authoritarian overlord; they are the stuffing of conservatism ... mediocrity is their god. They fear the stranger, they fear the new idea; they are afraid to live, and scared to die."

"Surrendering to fear and allowing ourselves to be paralyzed by peril isn't something most of us can afford to do."

"The point is, we can decry the dangers we face or ignore them or even allow ourselves to be paralyzed by fear."

"It was stupid to feel fear. Fear was nothing but the body’s involuntary response to perceived threats. Fear increased heartbeat, respiration, and perspiration; fear clouded the mind and paralyzed the limbs, and I’m going to die wasn’t subject to logical arguments about its counterproductivity."

"Fear is sharp-sighted, and can see things underground, and much more in the skies."

"The past is written, but the future is left for us to write, and we have powerful tools, Rios: openness, optimism, and the spirit of curiosity. All they have is secrecy, and fear, and fear is the great destroyer, Rios."

"But fear is an incompetent teacher."

"Myths are themselves a very important kind of proof. Myths preserve the history of human thought - dreams, nightmares, and memories - as well as the history of human deeds. And tangible proof aside, the legendary Amazons have been an almost universal male nightmare. Men have believed in them. Psychologically speaking, we don't fear something that doesn't exist, something that never happened, something that never could happen - any more than people forbid or regulate something that no one wants to do anyway."

"So much of "normal, civilized" life is bull that you can't imagine. … What frightens you, doesn't frighten me, what frightens me, you'd laugh at."

"Not living in fear is a great gift, because certainly these days we do it so much. And do you know what I like about comedy? You can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time—of anything. If you're laughing, I defy you to be afraid."

"Like one that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows, a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread."

"Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part VI, st. 10 (1798)."

"Who is all-powerful should fear everything."

"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."

"Où serait le mérite, si les héros n'avaient jamais peur?"

"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."

"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?"

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."

"As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him."

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

"Be not afraid of sudden fear."

"All our times have come Here but now they're gone Seasons don't fear the reaper Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain... we can be like they are Come on baby... don't fear the reaper Baby take my hand... don't fear the reaper We'll be able to fly... don't fear the reaper Baby I'm your man..."

"Fear, ...can make you do more wrong than hate or jealousy. If you're afraid you don’t commit yourself to life completely; fear makes you always, always hold something back."

"Death in itself is nothing; but we fear To be we know not what, we know not where."

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

"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, know no release From little things; Knows not the livid loneliness of fear, Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear The sound of wings."

"Always believe that God is with you, and fear nothing."

"Fear not those who argue but those who dodge."

"It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, — always do what you are afraid to do."

"O friend, never strike sail to a fear! Come into port greatly, or sail with God the seas."

"Quem metuunt oderunt; quem quisque odit, perisse expetit."

"Quite an experience, to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave."

"Depend on me; never fear your enemies. I'll warrant We make more noise than they."

"The road remains wide open while your dreams are alive. Only fear can block the way. Let fear propel you forward. Do not look back. Do not let failure stifle you."

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

"Fear, fear, she's the mother of violence"

"The fear of death is born with man, though this is the only thing he knows is certain to happen to him. Attachment to material things makes man cling to life. When you chant the Name of the Divine, when you are one with the divine, you accept death. While you are attached to life and afraid of death, you die with that fear and that weight clinging to you. If you have attained liberation you are free from death (you accept inevitable). You die without fear and by remembering the Name of God, your soul leaves the body free of that fear and attachment. If you are reborn, your soul is still free from that fear. If you die in 'unity', you are free from rebirth, unless you will it."

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

"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."

"The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don't ask for their love; only for their fear."