Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist
Misattributed
O Magazine, May 2004
Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist
Misattributed
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Not by Twain, but from Edward Abbey's A Voice Crying In The Wilderness (1989).
Misattributed
“Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth – more than ruin, more even than death.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Source: 1910s, Why Men Fight https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Why_Men_Fight (1917), pp. 178-179 <br class="br">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.
“Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.”
Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism
As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) edited by Larry Chang, p. 193
This is actually a pithy modern-day 'summary' of the "Abhaya Sutta" (AN 4.184). It appears in "Buddha’s Little Instruction Book" by Jack Kornfield (p88).
Unclassified
“Nothing is so much to be feared as fear. Atheism may comparatively be popular with God himself.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
September 7, 1851
Journals (1838-1859)
“People living deeply have no fear of death.”
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica
The Diary Of Anais Nin, Volume Two (1934-1939)
Diary entries (1914 - 1974)
Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer
Source: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead
“Don't fear death, fear the un-lived life”
Natalie Babbitt book Tuck Everlasting
Variant: dont be afraid of death, be afraid of the unlived life.
Source: Tuck Everlasting