“It is folly to anticipate evils, and madness to create imaginary ones.”
4 August 1796
1750s, Diaries (1750s-1790s)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
John Adams 202
2nd President of the United States 1735–1826Related quotes

“Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.”

“There is no folly of the beast of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of man.”
Variant: for there is no folly of the beast of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men
Source: Moby-Dick or, The Whale

“Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter.”
Act I, Scene 1 http://books.google.com/books?id=sZloXETcr24C&q=%22Don't+let+us+make+imaginary+evils+when+you+know+we+have+so+many+real+ones+to+encounter%22&pg=PA21#v=onepage.
The Good-Natured Man (1768)

“Perish with him the folly that seeks through evil good.”
Brown of Ossawatomie, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Spiritualism and the Christian Faith (1918)