Quotes about fear (4961 quotes, page 48)

“Governments which live in fear of tomorrow's headline are incapable of any change.”

Tony Abbott (1957) Australian politician

First speech of Tony Abbott to Australian Parliament https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22chamber/hansardr/1994-05-31/0043%22, 1994.
First speech to Parliament

Change

“The threat of pandemic flu is the number one health security concern, are we ready to respond? I fear the answer is no.”

Luciana Borio American physician and public health administrator

At a symposium at Emory University in Atlanta in 2018, marking the 100th anniversary of 1918 flu pandemic. As quoted in Contrary to Trump’s Claim, A Pandemic Was Widely Expected at Some Point https://www.factcheck.org/2020/03/contrary-to-trumps-claim-a-pandemic-was-widely-expected-at-some-point/ (March 20, 2020) by Rem Rieder, FactCheck.org.

Health

“It seems, moreover, that my argument has some relevance to choices we must make even now. There are some species of large predatory animals, such as the Siberian tiger, that are currently on the verge of extinction. If we do nothing to preserve it, the Siberian tiger as a species may soon become extinct. The number of extant Siberian tigers has been low for a considerable period. Any ecological disruption occasioned by their dwindling numbers has largely already occurred or is already occurring. If their number in the wild declines from several hundred to zero, the impact of their disappearance on the ecology of the region will be almost negligible. Suppose, however, that we could repopulate their former wide-ranging habitat with as many Siberian tigers as there were during the period in which they flourished in their greatest numbers, and that that population could be sustained indefinitely. That would mean that herbivorous animals in the extensive repopulated area would again, and for the indefinite future, live in fear and that an incalculable number would die in terror and agony while being devoured by a tiger. In a case such as this, we may actually face the kind of dilemma I called attention to in my article, in which there is a conflict between the value of preserving existing species and the value of preventing suffering and early death for an enormously large number of animals.”

Jeff McMahan (philosopher) (1954) American philosopher

" Predators: A Response https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/predators-a-response/", The New York Times, 28 Sept. 2010

Death , Future , Suffering , Animals

“The problem of policies aimed to return the economy to what it was before the virus hit is this: Global capitalism, by 2019, was itself a major cause of the collapse in 2020. Capitalism's scars from the crashes of 2000 and 2008-2009 had not healed. Years of low interest rates had enabled corporations and governments to "solve" all their problems by borrowing limitlessly at almost zero interest rate cost. All the new money pumped into economies by central banks had indeed caused the feared inflation, but chiefly in stock markets whose prices consequently spiraled dangerously far away from underlying economic values and realities. Inequalities of income and wealth reached historic highs. In short, capitalism had built up vulnerabilities to another crash that any number of possible triggers could unleash. The trigger this time was not the dot.com meltdown of 2000 or the sub-prime meltdown of 2008/9; it was a virus. And of course, mainstream ideology requires focusing on the trigger, not the vulnerability. Thus mainstream policies aim to reestablish pre-virus capitalism. Even if they succeed, that will return us to a capitalist system whose accumulated vulnerabilities will soon again collapse from yet another trigger.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

COVID-19 and the Failures of Capitalism (2020)

Money , Time , Wealth , Problem

“We need only look at the much lower level of anti-Americanism in Vietnam to realize that suffering incurred in wars does not necessarily dictate decades of animosity and fear between peoples. It’s what propaganda does with history — for contemporary political ends — that counts.”

Brian Reynolds Myers (1963) American professor of international studies

"On the Recent Spate of 'Why North Korea Hates America' Articles" http://sthelepress.com/index.php/2017/05/27/1419/ (27 May 2017), Sthele Press
2010s

History , War , Suffering , People

“Let us put away our sins; the real ground of all our calamities! Which never will or can be thoroughly removed, till we fear God and honour the King.”

John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian

A Calm Address to our American Colonies (1775), pp. 17–18.
1770s

God

“The really unforgivable acts are committed by calm men in beautiful green silk rooms, who deal death wholesale, by the shipload, without lust, or anger, or desire, or any redeeming emotion to excuse them but cold fear of some pretended future. But the crimes they hope to prevent in that future are imaginary. The ones they commit in the present—they are real.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (1986), Chapter 9 (p. 141)

Anger , Beauty , Future , Hope

“No fear trembled his voice. Well, she reflected, perhaps he was not old enough yet to have really come to believe in death after life.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (1986), Chapter 7 (p. 101)

Life , Death

“All my life, I have had a reputation for being cold, unfeeling. Some have called me heartless, ruthless, even cruel. I am not. I am not beyond emotional response or compassion. But I possess - and my masters count this as perhaps my paramount virtue - a singular force of will. Throughout my career it has served me well to draw on this facility and steel myself, unflinching, at all that this wretched galaxy can throw at me. To feel pain or fear or grief is to allow myself a luxury I cannot afford.”

Dan Abnett (1965) British comic book writer, novelist

Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn:
Warhammer 40,000 Works, Eisenhorn (novel series), Xenos

Drawing , Pain , Life , Feeling

“The example of a revolution and the lessons it applies for Latin America have destroyed all coffee house theories; we have demonstrated that a small group of men supported by the people without fear of dying can overcome a disciplined regular army and defeat it.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

As quoted in It Has Been 50 Years Since Che Guevara Was Murdered http://www.thenation.com/article/archive/it-has-been-50-years-since-che-guevara-was-murdered/, by Bill Ayers and Michael Steven Smith

Housing , Support , People , Coffee

“There is a resemblance between Nazism and political Islam. The same fears that existed in the 30s exist today. When people criticize Islamism, there is a screed of lead that imposes on them without forgetting to emphasize the key role of the collaborators.”

Waleed Al-Husseini (1989) Palestinian essayist and writer

Forgetting , People

“To say nothing is to tolerate the intolerable. I do not fear those who will call me "Islamophobic" when I denounce their fundamentalism: their blackmail to Islamophobia has never worked with me.”

Waleed Al-Husseini (1989) Palestinian essayist and writer

“No matter the specific techniques involved, historically mass surveillance has had several constant attributes. [...] A citizenry that is aware of always being watched quickly becomes a compliant and fearful one.”

Glenn Greenwald book No Place to Hide

Picador 2015 edition ISBN 9781250062581, p. 3
No Place to Hide (2014)

“Censorship represents Fear by Big Information. 'Stopping leaks' is a new form of censorship.”

Julian Assange (1971) Australian editor, activist, publisher and journalist

Quotes.

“And fourteen—fourteen is such a fearful age, when you find out so fast what you’re capable of being, but also what a toll the world expects.”

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) American writer

Imaginary Countries (p. 204; first published in The Harvard Advocate (Winter 1973)
Short fiction, Orsinian Tales (1976)

World , Age

“You will be a Parliament for the whole community. We used to say that we could not trust an Irish Parliament in Dublin to do justice to the Protestant minority. Let us take care that that reproach can no longer be made against your Parliament, and from the outset let them see that the Catholic minority have nothing to fear from a Protestant majority. ... Let us take care that we win all that is best amongst those who have been opposed to us in this community. ... And so I say: from the start be tolerant to all religions, and, while maintaining to the last your own traditions and your own citizenship, take care that similar rights are preserved for those who differ from us.”

Edward Carson, Baron Carson (1854–1935) Irish politician, barrister and judge

Speech https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/dup/pr290312.htm to the Ulster Unionist Council in Belfast (4 February 1921), quoted in Geoffrey Lewis, Carson: The Man Who Divided Ireland (2006), pp. 227–28

Religion , Justice , Communication

“In my business, fear is a sane and very healthy emotion. That's because death and disaster aren't abstractions. They're as goddamn real as real can be.”

Carl Hiaasen (1953) journalist, columnist and novelist from the United States

Source: Novels, Lucky You (1997), Chapter 5

Business , Death

“The Fear of Death often proves Mortal, and sets People on Methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

No. 25 (29 March 1711)
The Spectator (1711–1714)

Death , People

“If I tell a lie, something is left out;
If I speak out the truth, there is a blaze.
My mind fears both the alternatives,
But haltingly my tongue speaks out.
Words that come to my tongue cannot be held back.
If I were to unravel the mysteries,
All would forget to discuss and debate.
They would then kill our friend Bullah,
For only the hidden truth befits here.”

Bulleh Shah (1680–1757) Punjabi poet

Bulleh Shah, The Love-Intoxicated Iconoclast, p. 130
Poetry

Truth , Lie , Forgetting

“There's rain on the wind, the tears of spirits,
The clink of key on iron is near,
A shuttling train passes by on rail,
There's more than God for man to fear.”

Bobby Sands (1954–1981) Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army

"A Place to Rest"
Poetry, Miscellaneous poems

Training , God , Tear

“You can hear the earth sigh,
the shadow is chasing us,
the fear embodied us.
But the hunter of all shadows
dressed in the sun's morning ray
will continue to weave the mast of life
and like seeds that dreaming beneath the ground
your heart is still free to dreams”

alexis karpouzos

Life , Sun , Dreams , Heart

“Love, Fear and Hate and Childish Toys
Are here discreetly blent;
Admire, you ladies, read, you boys,
My Country Sentiment.”

Robert Graves (1895–1985) English poet and novelist

"A First Review"
Country Sentiment (1920)

Hate , Reading , Country , Boy

“…The resistance to English, the fear of English, has made us bad readers of English literature, because of our fear of contaminating the Spanish language, of losing it in the avalanche of North American influence…”

Luis Rafael Sánchez (1936) Puerto Rican playwright and novelist

On some people’s resistance to reading English literature in “Luis Rafael Sánchez: Counterpoints" https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00096005/00024/14j (Sargasso, 1984)

Bad luck , Literature

“Between our fear of failure
And our ultimate potential
We are called to action,
A line must be drawn.

Commit to Realization
And experimentation,
Stay centered in the Uncreated
Source of Creation,
Leave the critics behind.

Let Love draw the line.”

Alex Grey (1953) American artist

Art Psalms (2008), Let Love Draw the Line

Drawing , Love , Making love , Failure

“It's easy to hate and point out everything that is wrong with the world; it is the hardest and most important work in one's life to free oneself from the bonds of fear and attachment.”

Noah Levine (1971) American Buddhist teacher

Dharma Punx: A Memoir (2003)

World , Life , Hate

“I have a deep fear of hurting people…I don’t want to be seen as this kind of person. I don’t want my work to be seen as this type of work.”

Damon Young (writer) (1979) American writer and editor

On the backlash he faced after writing a controversial article about sexual harassment in “White People Often Don’t See Damon Young. That’s About to Change.” https://www.motherjones.com/media/2019/03/white-people-often-dont-see-damon-young-thats-about-to-change/ in Mother Jones (March/April 2019)

Personality , People , Hurt

“…The responsibility, the burden, is much heavier for us. If we don’t exercise our collective imagination—and not just documentation —we’ll always be at a certain disadvantage. I think what literature could provide us with is showing other possibilities. What I fear most is homogeneity.”

Rawi Hage (1964) Canadian writer

On the burden of racialized writers to represent their communities in “‘What I Fear Most is Homogeneity’: An Interview with Rawi Hage” https://hazlitt.net/feature/what-i-fear-most-homogeneity-interview-rawi-hage in Hazlitt (2018 Sep 12)

Imagination , Thinking , Literature , Exercises

“The religion of thousands consists in clinging to an idea; they are happy in their sloth.... many would observe silence from fear of fanatics.”

Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak (1551–1602) vizier

Ain-i-Akbari. Quoted in Lal, K. S. (2001). Historical essays. New Delhi: Radha.(II.203)

Religion , Silence , Happiness , Idea

“Sin and love and fear are just sounds that people who never sinned nor loved nor feared have for what they never had and cannot have until they forget the words.”

William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying (1930)

Forgetting , People , Love , Making love

“He had a word, too. Love, he called it. But I had been used to words for a long time. I knew that that word was like the others: just a shape to fill a lack; that when the right time came, you wouldn't need a word for that anymore than for pride or fear.”

William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying (1930)

Love , Making love , Time

“The joys of parents are secret; and so are their griefs and fears. They cannot utter the one; nor they will not utter the other.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

The Essays Or Counsels, Civil And Moral, Of Francis Ld. Verulam Viscount St. Albans (1625), Of Parents and Children

For Parents , Secret , Joy , Parent

“Certainly, the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another world, is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak. Yet in religious meditations, there is sometimes mixture of vanity, and of superstition.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

The Essays Or Counsels, Civil And Moral, Of Francis Ld. Verulam Viscount St. Albans (1625), Of Death

World , Death , Nature

“You do not need to resist, control or restrict the creations of others due to the fear that they will negatively affect you. There is more than enough room in this universe for any and all creations that could possibly be thought up. This is why for every unwanted thing, there is (or will eventually be) an antidote.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

Universe

“You have heard and know the nobleness of Indians - they fear not death or destruction… In affairs of honour and renown we would place ourselves upon the fire like roast meat, and upon the dagger like the sunrays.”

Jayapala (964–1001) Ruler of the Kabal Shabi

Message to Subuktigin, in Utbi, Kitab Yamini. quoted in Misra, R. G. (2005). Indian resistance to early Muslim invaders up to 1206 A.D. p.41

Death

“Ah, my Belov'ed fill the Cup that clears
To-day Past Regrets and Future Fears:
To-morrow!”

Omar Khayyám (1048–1131) Persian poet, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer

Why, To-morrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
Source: The Rubaiyat (1120)

Past , Future

“Behind of the words a silent ocean of desires
and a coiled knowledge lies in wait,
listen a restless voice in our heart endlessly urging us onward to break the limits of fear and to embrace of our longing.”

alexis karpouzos

Knowledge , Waiting , Heart

“Whosoever is miserly with the gift of his knowledge deserves more blame than whosoever is miserly with his money, because the man miserly with his money fears exhausting what he has, but the one miserly with his science is with an object which does not become exhausted with use, and that he would lose nothing in sharing it.”

Ibn Hazm (994–1064) Arab theologian

ibid

Money , Science , Knowledge

“Technology revolutionaries succeeded not because of some collectivist vision that seeks to regulate “fairness”, “neutrality”, “privacy” or “competition” through coercive state actions, or that views the Internet and technology as a vast commons that must be freely available to all, but rather because of the same belief as America’s Founders who understood that private property is the foundation of prosperity and freedom itself. Technology revolutionaries succeed because of the decentralized nature of the Internet, which defies government control. As a consequence, decentralization has unlocked individual self-empowerment, entrepreneurialism, creativity, innovation and the creation of new markets in ways never before imagined in human history...Around the world, the real threat to Internet freedom comes not from bad people or inefficient markets -- we can and will always route around them -- but from governments' foolish attempts to manage and control innovation. And it is not just the tyrannies we must fear. The road away from freedom is paved with good intentions.”

Rand Paul (1963) American politician, ophthalmologist, and United States Senator from Kentucky

2012-07-06
Rand Paul Wants to Save the Internet, Conservative-Style
Alex
Fitzpatrick
Mashable
http://mashable.com/2012/07/06/ron-rand-paul-internet-freedom/
2015-03-01

Imagination , History , Freedom , Bad luck

“There are some directors who actually fear the possible success of music. They fear that the audience or the critics will think the film has worked because there was a very good music score.”

Ennio Morricone (1928–2020) Italian composer, orchestrator and conductor

Music , Thinking , Success

“Fact is, nothing can justify our existence. Existence of any flavor is not only unjustified, it is useless, malignantly so, and has nothing to recommend it over nonexistence. A person’s addiction to existence is understandable as a telltale of the fear of nonexistence, but one’s psychology as a being that already exists does not justify existence as a condition to be perpetuated but only explains why someone would want to perpetuate it. For the same reason, even eternal bliss in a holy hereafter is unjustified, since it is just another form of existence, another instance in which the unjustifiable is perpetuated. That anyone should have a bias for heaven over nonexistence should by rights be condemned as hedonistic by the same people who scoff at Schopenhauer for complaining about the disparity between “the effort and the reward” in human life. People may believe they can choose any number of things. But they cannot choose to undo their existence, leaving them to live and die as puppets who have had an existence forced upon them whose edicts they must follow. If you are already among the existent, anything you do will be unjustified and MALIGNANTLY USELESS.”

Thomas Ligotti (1953) American horror author

The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror (2010)

Understanding , Personality , People , Life

“What I fear is a new direction for the president and his administration and what could very likely be a catastrophe for the working men and women, small business and entrepreneurs, our middle class, the American family, the very people this president has represented from the moment he announced he would run for the presidency.
That Mr. Trump would advance the interest of the globalist elites ahead of our citizens would be a tragic reversal on any day,
But today, on the same day the Commerce Department reported the United States had the largest trade deficit in our history ... it all means the White House has simply lost its way.
The nation’s heart will be, after all, broken by the very same people who brought 50 years of consecutive trade deficit and the export of millions of middle-class jobs and who have fed the swamp for decades”

Lou Dobbs (1945) American Television Host

6 March 2019 episode of Donahue Tonight on Fox Business Network https://twitter.com/LouDobbs/status/1103453101036658688, reported on 7 March 2019 by The Hill https://thehill.com/homenews/media/432993-lou-dobbs-trump-white-house-has-lost-its-way

Family , Housing , History , Business

“For me personally, I am deeply saddened that there has never managed to be an annihilation of the human species, in spite of of plague and war, the latter seeming the ultimately ironic kind of self-serving apocalypse showing the absolute idiocy of the human being the pinnacle of the pyramid of life. While the earth is in the grip of the apocalypse the anthropocene delivers, humans fear an apocalypse that our consumerism, our greed and our narcissism welcomes.”

Patricia MacCormack Australian Scholar

Future in the Age of the Apocalypse, pp. 176-177
The Ahuman Manifesto: Activism for the End of the Anthropocene (2020)

Life , War , Personality , Self-confidence

“Asia gave us dowry deaths and the caste system. Africa elevated famine to an art form. North America cultivated chattel slavery for far longer than I would have dared hope; South America has done things with political oppression that I am obliged to call brilliant; Australia showed the world that the only good aborigine is a dead aborigine; and Antarctica has fabulous weather. Of all the continents that constitute Earth’s terrain, however, Europe remains dearest to my heart and closest to my soul.
I allude here not to the sweatshops, the world wars, or totalitarian socialism (though none of these innovations has escaped my notice) but to the fact that the European imagination endowed me with a degree of glamour—you might even say charm—that in pre-coma times enabled me to function with extraordinary effectiveness. The concept of an Evil One is intrinsic to Islam, of course; the ancient Hebrews had their “adversary,” their satan; the Egyptians feared a dark deity called Set; Zoroastrians believed in Ahriman, essence of destruction (forever warring with Ohrmazd, source of all things bright and beautiful). But only in Christian Europe did the Prince of Hell acquire a personality as vivid and endearing as any you will meet in a Dickens novel.”

James K. Morrow (1947) (1947-) science fiction author

Source: Blameless in Abaddon (1996), Chapter 11 (p. 253; spoken by the Devil)

Soul , Hell , Imagination , Time

“That I shall sink in death, I know must be;
But with that death of mine what life will die? Across the air, I hear my heart's voice cry:
Where dost thou bear me reckless one? Descend!
Such rashness seldom ends but bitterly'
"Fear not the lofty fall" I answer "rend
With might the clouds, and be content to die,
If God such a glorious death for us intend."”

Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer

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As quoted in "Giordano Bruno" by Thomas Davidson, in The Index Vol. VI. No. 36 (4 March 1886), p. 429

God , Heart , Cry , Life

“[T]here is a flaw in civilization from the instant it has to admit fear.”

Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish writer

Source: A Time in Rome (1960), Ch. I, p. 23

“A sense of art mixes with our modern piety. We are apt to admire the evangelical reticence for its dignity,[…] we are apt to respect the Scripture narratives with their few intense details, their close events and their great omissions alike, for their simplicity, and—it is to be feared that our literature leads us so far—for their "effect."”

Alice Meynell (1847–1922) English publisher, editor, writer, poet, activist

Source: Mary, the Mother of Jesus: An Essay (1912), Ch. II. "Mary in the Scriptures", pp. 18, 21

Sense , Literature , Art

“I can make it through this
You can throw the world in my face
But the fear gives me life
And I swear 'til I die
I'm gonna do it my way”

Aloe Blacc (1979) American soul singer, rapper and musician

Source: Song My Way

Way , World , Life , Making love

“I am already late, I fear. What time is it?”

Michael Moorcock book The Time Dweller

“Time? Why the present, of course.”
The Time Dweller (p. 13)
Short fiction, The Time Dweller (1969)

Time

“There’s no room for facts when our minds are occupied by fear.”

Hans Rosling (1948–2017) Swedish medical doctor, academic, statistician and public speaker

On the HIV epidemic http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/hans_rosling_the_truth_about_hiv.html

“Modern Philosophers, that wisely keep to sandy shallows, like shrimps, for fear of bigger fish.”

Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) English poet

Vol. II, Ch. V Aphorisms and Extracts, p. 76.
Memoirs and Correspondence (1900)

Fish

“If we assume the viewpoint claimed as his own by Lenin and we fear the influence of intellectuals in the proletarian movement, we can conceive of no greater danger to the Russian party than Lenin's plan of organization. Nothing will more surely enslave a young labor movement to an intellectual elite hungry for power than this bureaucratic straightjacket, which will immobilize the movement and turn it into an automaton manipulated by a Central Committee. On the other hand there is no more effective guarantee against opportunist intrigue and personal ambition than the independent revolutionary action of the proletariat, as a result of which the workers acquire the sense of political responsibility and self-reliance.”

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary

Leninism or Marxism? (1904)

Sense , Self-confidence , Personality

“Lynchings in the past have significantly shaped race relations in the present. A killing such as George Floyd’s lands on black people with a much heavier psychological weight because of lynching’s legacy. Too many white people fail to recognize this, and that needs to change. The hurt is too great, the simmering fear and anger too volatile, to bury forever. All Americans who would seek or demand a nation that is fairer to every citizen, less racist, and more peaceful have a responsibility to know this history in detail. … Confronting this ugliness would be difficult for everyone, of course, but it should be attempted. Ignorance and denial certainly have not worked, because this American wound still bleeds.”

Guy P. Harrison (1963) American skeptic author

Hurt , Peace , Anger , History

“The reality is that racial lynchings were a frequent and normal feature of life in the South. This unique method of murder was a devastating form of terrorism that imposed a constant threat to all black people. The white authority structure did not only tolerate or encourage these killings but used the fear of lynchings to control and oppress black people.”

Guy P. Harrison (1963) American skeptic author

Life , Reality , People

“The prince must consider, as has been in part said before, how to avoid those things which will make him hated or contemptible; and as often as he shall have succeeded he will have fulfilled his part, and he need not fear any danger in other reproaches. It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain. And when neither their property nor honour is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways. It makes him contemptible to be considered fickle, frivolous, effeminate, mean-spirited, irresolute, from all of which a prince should guard himself as from a rock; and he should endeavour to show in his actions greatness, courage, gravity, and fortitude; and in his private dealings with his subjects let him show that his judgments are irrevocable, and maintain himself in such reputation that no one can hope either to deceive him or to get round him. That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself, and he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against; for, provided it is well known that he is an excellent man and revered by his people, he can only be attacked with difficulty.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 19; translated by W. K. Marriot

Courage , Hate , Hope , People

“Still, a prince should make himself feared in such a way that if he does not gain love, he at any rate avoids hatred; for fear and the absence of hatred may well go together, and will be always attained by one who abstains from interfering with the property of his citizens and subjects or with their women. And when he is obliged to take the life of any one, to do so when there is a proper justification and manifest reason for it; but above all he must abstain from taking the property of others, for men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony. Then also pretexts for seizing property are never wanting, and one who begins to live by rapine will always find some reason for taking the goods of others, whereas causes for taking life are rarer and more quickly destroyed.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 17; translated by Luigi Ricci

Loss , Death , Forgetting , Way

“It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 6; translated by W. K. Marriott

Men , Law , Success

“Now if Conservative has any meaning at all, it means anti-Radical. The Radicals are the only inheritors of the revolutionary views which the Conservative party was set up to counteract; and the two can no more act together, if both are honest, than a weasel can act with a rat. Hostility to Radicalism, incessant, implacable hostility, is the essential definition of Conservatism. The fear that the Radicals my triumph is the only final cause that the Conservative party can plead for their own existence.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Source: 'English Politics and Parties', Bentley's Quarterly Review, 1, (1859), p. 12

Hostility

“Even the victor in a just cause is susceptible to the passions which war arouses. Every inhuman feeling is at once exacerbated. Truth, decency, morality, justice are the first casualties in any war. The accumulated effect makes a just settlement impossible. ... The pacifist treasures justice, liberty; but he believes that they can only be lastingly secured by peaceable means and that the use of force will only contaminate them. ... Armaments themselves provide an independent cause of war owing to the suspicion and fear which they breed. ... Unilateral disarmament offers the only way to escape once the policy of collateral disarmament has failed.”

Michael Foot (1913–2010) British politician

Source: Article in Young Oxford and War (1934), quoted in Mervyn Jones, Michael Foot (1994), p. 30

Justice , War , Truth , Passion

“Etymologically, patient means sufferer. It is not suffering as such that is most deeply feared but suffering that degrades. That illness can be not an epic of suffering but the occasion of some kind of self-transcendence is affirmed by sentimental literature and, more convincingly, by case histories offered by doctor-writers. Some illnesses seem more apt than others for this kind of meditation.”

Susan Sontag book AIDS and Its Metaphors

Source: AIDS and Its Metaphors, (1989), ch. 4, p. 125, Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0-312-42013-7 ; later published in combination with Illness As Metaphor. This combined edition is the one referenced here.

History , Suffering , Self-confidence , Literature

“[W]e understand that if the child were to give in to the overpowering character of reality and experience he would not be able to act with the kind of equanimity we need in our non-instinctive world. So one of the first things a child has to do is to learn to “abandon ecstasy,” to do without awe, to leave fear and trembling behind. Only then can he act with a certain oblivious self-confidence, when he has naturalized his world. We say “naturalized” but we mean unnaturalized, falsified, with the truth obscured, the despair of the human condition hidden, a despair that the child glimpses in his night terrors and daytime phobias and neuroses. This despair he avoids by building defenses; and these defenses allow him to feel a basic sense of self-worth, of meaningfulness, of power. They allow him to feel that he controls his life and his death, that he really does live and act as a willful and free individual, that he has a unique and self-fashioned identity, that he is somebody—not just a trembling accident germinated on a hothouse planet that Carlyle for all time called a “hall of doom.””

Ernest Becker book The Denial of Death

We called one’s life style a vital lie, and now we can understand better why we said it was vital: it is a necessary and basic dishonesty about oneself and one’s whole situation. This revelation is what the Freudian revolution in thought really ends up in and is the basic reason that we still strain against Freud We don’t want to admit that we arerevelation is what the Freudian revolution in thought really ends up in and is the basic reason that we still strain against Freud. We don’t want to admit that we are fundamentally dishonest about reality, that we do not really control our own lives. We don’t want to admit that we do not stand alone, that we always rely on something that transcends us, some system of ideas and powers in which we are embedded and which support us. This power is not always obvious. It need not be overtly a god or openly a stronger person, but it can be the power of an all-absorbing activity, a passion, a dedication to a game, a way of life, that like a comfortable web keeps a person buoyed up and ignorant of himself, of the fact that he does not rest on his own center. All of us are driven to be supported in a self-forgetful way, ignorant of what energies we really draw on, of the kind of lie we have fashioned in order to live securely and serenely. Augustine was a master analyst of this, as were Kierkegaard, Scheler, and Tillich in our day. They saw that man could strut and boast all he wanted, but that he really drew his “courage to be” from a god, a string of sexual conquests, a Big Brother, a flag, the proletariat, and the fetish of money and the size of a bank balance.
Human Character as a Vital Lie
The Denial of Death (1973)

Despair , Life , Confidence , Time

“Look—I understand that many of my fellow Americans view the future with fear and trepidation. I understand they worry about their jobs. I understand like my dad, they lay in bed wondering, can I keep my health care, can I pay my mortgage. Thinking about their families, about what comes next. I promise you, I get it.But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don′t look like you or worship the way you do or don′t get their news from the same source as you do. We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.If we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we are willing to stand in the other person′s shoes—as my mom would say—just for a moment, stand in their shoes. Because here′s the thing about life: there′s no accounting for what fate will deal you.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

Family , Soul , Life , Understanding

“[T]ogether we shall write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division. Of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness.May this be the story that guides us, the story that inspires us, and the story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history, we met the moment. Democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch, but thrived, that America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forebears, one another, and generations to follow.So, with purpose and resolve, we turn to those tasked of our time, sustained by faith, driven by conviction, and devoted to one another and the country we love with all our hearts. May God bless America and may God protect our troops. Thank you, America.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

Democracy , Home , God , Faith

“I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days. I know that the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. But I also know they are not new. Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we all are created equal, and the harsh ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart.The battle is perennial, and victory is never assured. Through civil war, the great depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifices, and setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed. In each of these moments, enough of us have come together to carry all of us forward, and we can do that now.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

History , War , Victory , Angels

“Fear came in so much in my life that it did everything but completely stop me. When I was a little girl, I so wanted to be sociable, but I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to speak a sentence because I had such a bad stammer...”

Carly Simon (1943) American singer-songwriter, musician and author

On what Simon’s childhood in “Tales From the Trees: An Interview With Carly Simon” https://www.popmatters.com/tales-from-the-trees-an-interview-with-carly-simon-2495407885.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1 in PopMatters (2016 Nov 20)

Girl , Life , Bad luck

“I pretended I was Cat Stevens. I started out with very Cat Stevensy chords, very abrupt. I was so stuck in the moment of being fearful so as a lesson to myself I said: ‘but we can never know about the days to come’. I didn’t know when the door-bell was going to ring. I liked that. It was all of a sudden a quarter to eight and I had written the whole song.”

Carly Simon (1943) American singer-songwriter, musician and author

On her song “Anticipation” in “Carly Simon explains ‘Anticipation’ was about Cat Stevens” http://www.music-news.com/news/Underground/101225/Carly-Simon-explains-Anticipation-was-about-Cat-Stevens in Music-News.com (31 Oct 2016)

Cats

“Even after I had determined that there was no physiological cause, and that I was no more insane than most of my fellow men, the fears persisted. It was a defect, illness, or deformity that had to be hidden from "normal" people.”

Robert Monroe (1915–1995) American founder of The Monroe Institute

Journeys Out of the Body (1971), Chapter 2. Search and Research

People , Men

“There was no question that I was deeply afraid of what might happen to me if the "condition" continued. I was much more concerned about the possibility of a growing mental illness than a physical deterioration. I had studied enough psychology and had enough psychologist and psychiatrist friends to compound such fears. Moreover, I was afraid to discuss the matter with these friends. I was afraid that I would then be classified as their "patients," and lose the closeness that equality (normalcy) brings. Non-professional friends in business and community would be worse. I would be labeled a freak or psychotic, which could seriously affect my life and the lives of those close to me. Finally, it seemed to be something to keep from my family. It seemed unnecessary that they worry along with me.”

Robert Monroe (1915–1995) American founder of The Monroe Institute

Journeys Out of the Body (1971), Chapter 2. Search and Research

Family , Life , Study , Question

“Hate comes from the past, fear from the future. Pain and pleasure are now, and therefore their own trap.”

Steven Barnes (1952) American writer and author

Source: Street Lethal (1983), Chapter 16 “Warrior” (p. 234)

Pain , Hate , Past , Future

“Following the stars through the honky-tonks and bars
Dream away on a country music pride
Start the evenin' by myself
You can bet by the hour of twelve
Gonna have a pretty painted lady by my side
Talkin' about a pretty pained lady by my side Painted lady, tell me of the past gone by
Hold me like the open range and ride me high
Listenin' to the days when your dress was made of calico or gingham
And a man was a manI can feel the pain, I can see the fears
On the painted cheeks that hide the tears
Of a lovely, lonesome cowgirl in disguise”

Willis Allan Ramsey (1951) American singer-songwriter

Painted Lady

Pain , Painting , Country , Past

“When I started meditating, I was filled with anxieties and fears. I felt a sense of depression and anger.
I often took out this anger on my first wife. After I had been meditating for about two weeks, she came to me and said, "What's going on?" I was quiet for a moment. But finally I said, "What do you mean?" And she said, "This anger, where did it go?"”

David Lynch book Catching the Big Fish

And I hadn't even realized that it had lifted.
I call that depression and anger the Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit of Negativity. It's suffocating, and that rubber stinks. But once you start meditating and diving within, the clown suit starts to dissolve. You finally realize how putrid was the stink when it starts to go. Then, when it dissolves, you have freedom.
Anger and depression and sorrow are beautiful things in a story, but they are like poison to the filmmaker or artist. They are like a vise grip on creativity. If you're in that grip, you can hardly get out of bed, much less experience the flow of creativity and ideas. You must have clarity to create. You have to be able to catch ideas.
Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit, p. 8
Catching the Big Fish (2006)

Sense , Anger

“I fear to accept anything from anybody lest my heart should start cherishing love for that person. I desire only to live in His thoughts.”

Sufyan al-Thawri (716–778) Muslim Scholar and founder of Thawri Madhhab

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 29

Personality , Heart , Love , Making love

“The distance often makes it clear how true a love is. Those who love deeply never fear a storm, they only fear that love will go out.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) La distanza spesso fa capire quanto sia vero un amore. Chi ama profondamente non teme mai una tempesta, teme solo che l'amore si spenga.
Source: prevale.net

Love , Making love

“I often think of others who hunger and thirst for something more, for whom the Catholic Church is a very intimidating but compelling presence. They must overcome misunderstandings about what the Catholic Church teaches, and fears about what it might mean to live in the Catholic Church. Patient pastoral work can resolve much of this.”

Jeffrey N. Steenson (1952) American bishop

Source: Seeking the pearl of great price https://mercatornet.com/seeking_the_pearl_of_great_price/8854/ (October 22, 2009)

Hunger , Thinking

“We’re always a victim of our fears, if we can convey them and have people understand them, maybe we can help them protect themselves from their fears.”

Christian Duguay (director) (1957) Canadian film director

People , Help , Understanding

“Love is just another means of manipulation. We can use that emotion like we use hatred and fear.”

John Twelve Hawks book The Traveler

Fourth Realm Trilogy (2005-2009), The Traveler (2005)

Love , Making love

“No one can love God consciously in his heart unless he has first feared Him with all his heart. Through the action of fear the soul is purified and, as it were, made malleable and so it becomes awakened to the action of love.”

Diadochos of Photiki (400–486) Byzantine saint

§ 16
On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination (480 AD)

Soul , God , Heart , Love

“The truth is that the connection of Ireland with England has been full of trouble, and I fear there is no remedy. ... It is a chronic disease, and even if it is not to be cured we have proved in the past that we can get on with it and yet carry on our Empire to a vast pitch of prosperity. What has been done in the past can be done in the future. ... [D]o not let us attempt to cure it by a measure which will put this island into a condition which never during 700 years of our history has existed—which will hand over those who have had the courage to defend us to the maltreatment of their worst enemies, and which will establish at our very doors a post—a hostile post—which will be at the pleasure of any foreign power which may sometimes be hostile to us.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Speech to a banquet of the Merchant Taylors' Company, London (10 May 1886), quoted in The Times (11 May 1886), p. 12
1880s

Courage , Hostility , History , Past

“I feel the world is the way it is because we don’t talk about ourselves ever. We don’t talk about how we feel, we don’t talk about how we experience things. And not knowing yourself is when you project your insecurities and your fears and your bullshit onto other people. And so that just kind of creates a whole collective where nobody’s aware of themselves, and if you don’t have self-awareness then how can we have collective awareness?”

Lauren Jauregui (1996) Cuban-American singer and songwriter

Fifth Harmony Was Just The Beginning For Lauren Jauregui, Nylon Magazine, September 5, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtrtUi4Vmnw,

People , Self-confidence , Way , World

“Never allow fears to limit your life.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

prevale.net
Original: (it) Non permettere mai alle paure di limitarti la vita.
Source: prevale.net

Life

“No evil comes from the fear of hell, no good comes from the promise of heaven.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Death and the Eternal Forever (2014)

Hell , Evil

“It’s not God I fear but the woman who bore him.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

God

“O son of Adam, when you see that your Lord, the Glorified, bestows His Favors on you while you disobey Him, you should fear Him”

Ali book Nahj al-Balagha

take warning that His Wrath may not turn those very blessings into misfortunes
Nahj al-Balagha

“Then, does everyone lives in fear?”

Steven Erikson book Forge of Darkness

The firelight barely reached the huge man standing beside Raskan, and the deep voice that came from that vague shape sounded loose, unguarded. 'I would say, most of the time, yes. Fear that our opinion might be chalanged. Fear that our way of seeing things might be called ignorant, self-serving, or indeed evil. Fear for our persons. Fear for our future, our fate. Our moment of death. Fear of failing in all that we set out to achieve. Fear of being forgotten.'
Forge of Darkness (2013)

“For my own part I am deeply convinced that all excess in the public expenditure beyond the legitimate wants of the country is not only a pecuniary waste—for that is a comparatively trifling matter—but a great political and a great moral evil. It is a characteristic of the mischief which arise from financial prodigality, that they creep onwards with a noiseless and surreptitious step; that they are unseen and unfelt until they have reached a magnitude absolutely overwhelming, and then at length, we see them, as perhaps they now exist in the case of one at least among the great European nations, so fearful and menacing in their aspect that they seem to threaten the very foundations of national existence.”

William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) British Liberal politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom

Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1861/apr/15/first-night#column_595 in the House of Commons (15 April 1861)
1860s

Parting , Evil , Country

“With everything that Palestine has been through and continues to go through, their smiles never go away. Your joy and freedom is their biggest fear, never forget that. The world is watching you and we are proud of you. Free Palestine, always.”

Massin Akandouch (2001) Amazigh activist

May 17, 2021. Comments on Palestinian-Israeli conflict. https://twitter.com/MAS8IN/status/1178285515210215424

Joy , Freedom , World , Smile

“The thing is, all of us think that fear is just a thing you choose to overcome but its not, all of us face it in some way you dont have to be on a stage whether is parenting, running a business, speaking out on something you believe in, it can scare us all.”

Torrie Wilson (1975) American professional wrestler

WWE Hall of Fame induction (2019)

Thinking , Way , Parent , Business

“Crime and madness have some similarity. Seeing the prisoners of the Conciergerie in the courtyard, or seeing the mad in the garden of a nursing home, it's the same thing. Both walk around, avoiding each other, glancing at each other at least singularly, atrociously, according to their thoughts of the moment, never cheerful or serious; because they know each other or they fear each other. The expectation of a condemnation, remorse, anxieties give walkers in the courtyard a worried and a haggard look of madmen. Consummate criminals alone have an assurance which resembles the tranquility of an honest life, the sincerity of a pure conscience.”

Honoré de Balzac book Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes

et Misères des courtisanes (The Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans) (1837-1847), part IV. La dernière Incarnation de Vautrin (The Last Incarnation of Vautrin) https://books.google.ca/books?id=ajtOAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Splendeurs+et+Mis%C3%A8res+des+Coutisanes+Sc%C3%A8nes+de+la+Vie+parisienne&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiq69XJuJTvAhXrMlkFHcxvDVgQ6AEwCHoECAEQAg#v=onepage&f=falseSplendeurs, "Le Préau de la Conciergerie" ("The Courtyard of the Conciergerie") (chapter title).
Original: (fr) Le crime et la folie ont quelque similitude. Voir les prisonniers de la Conciergerie au préau, ou voir des fous dans le jardin d'une maison de santé, c'est une même chose. Les uns et les autres se promènent en s'évitant, se jettent des regards au moins siguliers, atroces, selon leurs pensées du moment, jamais gais ni sérieux ; car ils se connaissent ou ils se craignent. L'attente d'une condamnation, les remords, les anxiétés donnent aux promeneurs du préau l'air inquiet et hagard des fous. Les criminels consommés ont seuls une assurance qui ressemble à la tranquillité d'une vie honnête, à la sincérité d'une conscience pure.

Home , Sincerity , Life , Madness

“It is written that the last enemy to be vanquished is death. We should begin early in life to vanquish this enemy by obliterating every trace of the fear of death from our minds. Then can we turn to life and fill the whole horizon of our souls with it, turn with added zest toall the serious tasks which it imposes and to the pure delights which here and there it affords.”

Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer

Section 8 : Suffering and Consolation
Life and Destiny (1913)

Soul , Life , Death

“She could not understand why people feared new ideas. She was frightened by the old ones.”

Gregory Benford (1941) Science fiction author and astrophysicist

Source: Short fiction, Vortex, p. 111

Idea , People , Understanding

“I used to think that comedy came from wanting acceptance, wanting to be liked. Now I know differently. I know it's all down to fear. Fear, ladies and gentlemen, is the only true comedian in town.”

Ian Rankin (1960) Scottish crime writer

The Only True Comedian (2000)

Thinking

“Fear is effective as much as magic.”

Attila (406–453) King of the Hunnic Empire

Turkish Wikipedia
https://quotestats.com/topic/attila-hun-quotes/

“It is now an established fact that there is a complete lack of fear of law in the minds of criminals and instead the laxity of the system emboldens them to commit gruesome crimes against women and girls in the country.”

Swati Maliwal (1984) women activist who fights for women rights

Zee News https://zeenews.india.com/delhi/dcw-chief-swati-maliwal-asks-delhi-lg-anil-baijal-to-fast-track-two-delhi-rape-cases-ensure-death-penalty-for-accused-2308623.html, accessed May 9, 2021

Law , Country , Girl , Women

“It is now an established fact that there is a complete lack of fear of law in the minds of criminals and instead the laxity of the system emboldens them to commit gruesome crimes against women and girls in the country. The justice delivery mechanism in the country is painfully long and cumbersome which more often than not breaks the spirit of the girl or woman who has been raped,”

Swati Maliwal (1984) women activist who fights for women rights

Zee News https://zeenews.india.com/delhi/dcw-chief-swati-maliwal-asks-delhi-lg-anil-baijal-to-fast-track-two-delhi-rape-cases-ensure-death-penalty-for-accused-2308623.html, accessed May 9, 2021

Justice , Law , Country , Girl

“The centre of all our efforts in caring for the sick must be the person himself or herself. Our attention must be directed to each person at this particular moment of their journey of life. In our modern world, and even within our health system, we face the danger of depersonalisation. Too easily, we can focus on procedures and techniques, on the task at hand and the hoped-for outcome. The challenge is to remain focused on the particular person before us, on their physical well-being and also on their emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. It is their particular fears and hopes, struggles and frailties that we are called to receive and to carry with them.”

Albert LeGatt (1953) Catholic bishop

World Day of the Sick https://www.archsaintboniface.ca/media/Archeveque-Archbishop/World-Day-of-the-Sick-2015_1.pdf (February 11, 2015)

World , Personality , Life , Hope

“A heart well prepared for adversity in bad times hopes, and in good times fears for a change in fortune.”

Horace (-65–-8 BC) Roman lyric poet

Time , Hope , Heart , Change

“Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

“The free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought.”

Léon Blum (1872–1950) French politician

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but simply moving on with dignity despite that fear.”

Pat Riley (1945) American basketball player, coach, executive

Courage , Moving On

“All church leaders agreed that the fears of the church members were not unfounded.”

Sebastian Tudu (1967) Roman catholic Bishop

Bangladeshi Christians Skip Traditional Christmas Midnight Mass https://www.voanews.com/east-asia/bangladeshi-christians-skip-traditional-christmas-midnight-mass (December 24, 2015)

“It is feared that if many H-bombs are used there will be universal death, sudden only for a minority, but for the majority a slow torture of disease and disintegration.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

1950s, Russell–Einstein Manifesto (1955)

Universe , Death , Disease

Quotes about fear page 48

Quotes about fear
page 48