“The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of the state of your mind.”
Letter to Rev. John Fisher (3 November 1823), from John Constable's Correspondence, ed. R.B. Beckett (Ipswich, Suffolk Records Society, 1962-1970), part 6, pp. 142-143
1820s
“Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth – more than ruin, more even than death.”
Source: 1910s, Why Men Fight https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Why_Men_Fight (1917), pp. 178-179
Context: Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth – more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. It sees man, a feeble speck, surrounded by unfathomable depths of silence; yet it bears itself proudly, as unmoved as if it were lord of the universe. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
“Nothing gives a fearful man more courage than another's fear.”
Variant: Nothing gives a fearful man more courage than another's fear.”" -
Source: The Name of the Rose
“Nothing is more frightening than a fear you cannot name.”
Variant: Nothing is more terrifying than fearlessness.
Source: Inkheart
“There is nothing more liberating than having your worst fear realized.”
“Religion has nothing more to fear than not being sufficiently understood.”
No. 36.
Maxims and Moral Sentences
“Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear.”
Last words, to his niece, according to A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison (1865) by Paul Jennings, p. 20; his testimony on his death reads:
:: I was present when he died. That morning Sukey brought him his breakfast, as usual. He could not swallow. His niece, Mrs. Willis, said, "What is the matter, Uncle Jeames?" "Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear." His head instantly dropped, and he ceased breathing as quietly as the snuff of a candle goes out.
Variant:
I always talk better lying down.
Last words, according to a listing of "Last Words of Famous Americans" in A Conspectus of American Biography (1906) edited by George Derby, p. 276; no prior publication of such an attribution has been located; in recent years, without any sources cited, the two divergent accounts of his last words have sometimes been combined into the form: "Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear. I always talk better lying down."
1830s
“There is nothing more powerful than the made-up mind.”
TED Talk: Mind-Shifting Everest Swim, July 2010 http://www.ted.com/talks/lewis_pugh_s_mind_shifting_mt_everest_swim.html
Speaking & Features
