Quotes about fear
Worry, dread and the ways people have learned to face them. Quotes about fear that pair naturally with the courage collection.
The library has 388 quotes on this topic. Here are 60 of the most quoted, no more than four from any one writer.
60 quotes about fear
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Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.
Mark Twain Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar, in Pudd’nhead Wilson -
Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
William Shakespeare Henry IV, Part 1, Part I. Act ii. Sc. 3 -
I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.
Louisa May Alcott Little Women, 1868–69 (Amy) -
Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.
Alexander Pope Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Prologue to the Satires. Line 201 -
Oh, fear not in a world like this, And thou shalt know erelong,—Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Light of Stars -
Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.
William Shakespeare Julius Caesar, Act ii. Sc. 3 -
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of nature. Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings.
William Shakespeare Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 3 -
And he that stands upon a slippery place. Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up.
William Shakespeare King John, Act iii. Sc. 4 -
Whom neither shape of danger can dismay, Nor thought of tender happiness betray.
William Wordsworth Character of the Happy Warrior -
Those only are despicable who fear to be despised.
François de La Rochefoucauld Maxims, Maxim 322 · translated by J. W. Willis Bund and J. Hain Friswell -
For he who fights and runs away May live to fight another day; But he who is in battle slain Can never rise and fight again.
Oliver Goldsmith The Art of Poetry on a New Plan (1761). Vol. ii. p. 147 -
Men are such cowards. They outrage every law in the world and are afraid of the world’s tongue.
Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous Aphorisms -
A Bhikshu who delights in reflection, who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, cannot fall away—he is close upon Nirvana.
The Buddha Dhammapada, v. 32 · translated by F. Max Müller -
A Bhikshu who delights in earnestness, who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, moves about like fire, burning all his fetters, small or large.
The Buddha Dhammapada, v. 31 · translated by F. Max Müller -
From greed comes grief, from greed comes fear; he who is free from greed knows neither grief nor fear.
The Buddha Dhammapada, v. 216 · translated by F. Max Müller -
Don’t put too fine a point to your wit for fear it should get blunted.
Miguel de Cervantes The Little Gypsy (La Gitanilla) -
From love comes grief, from love comes fear; he who is free from love knows neither grief nor fear.
The Buddha Dhammapada, v. 215 · translated by F. Max Müller -
To elope is cowardly; it is running away from danger, and danger has become so rare in modern life.
Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous Aphorisms -
Superstition is the only religion of which base souls are capable.
Joseph Joubert -
I always feel uncomfortable under such compliments as these: “I have given you a great deal of trouble,” “I am afraid I am boring you,” “I fear this is too long.” We either carry our audience with us, or irritate them.
Blaise Pascal Pensées, No. 57 · translated by W. F. Trotter -
When the people do not fear what they ought to fear, that which is their great dread will come on them.
Laozi Tao Te Ching, ch. 72.1 · translated by James Legge -
I would prefer you to see no quality till you meet it and have occasion to use it (Ne quid nimis), for fear some one quality prevail and designate the man.
Blaise Pascal Pensées, No. 35 · translated by W. F. Trotter -
Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.
Francis Bacon Of Death -
Every condition, and even the martyrs, have to fear, according to Scripture.
Blaise Pascal Pensées, No. 517 · translated by W. F. Trotter -
False fear is joined to despair, because men fear the God in whom they have no belief. The former fear to lose Him; the latter fear to find Him.
Blaise Pascal Pensées, No. 262 · translated by W. F. Trotter -
The wise are free from perplexities; the virtuous from anxiety; and the bold from fear.
Confucius Analects, IX.28 · translated by James Legge -
Religion worships God, while superstition profanes that worship.
Seneca -
Moral cowardice is something which I think I never had.
Abraham Lincoln January 25 -
In company take care not to speak much and excessively about your own acts or dangers; for as it is pleasant to you to make mention of your own dangers, it is not so pleasant to others to hear what has happened to you.
Epictetus Enchiridion, ch. XXXIII · translated by George Long -
I fear God, and, next to God, I chiefly fear him who fears Him not.
Saadi -
Dupes indeed are many; but of all dupes there is none so fatally situated as he who lives in undue terror of being duped.
Thomas Carlyle On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History -
Reflect that the chief source of all evils to Man, and of baseness and cowardice, is not death, but the fear of death.
Epictetus Golden Sayings, No. CXXXV · translated by Hastings Crossley -
In company avoid frequent and undue talk about your own actions and dangers. However pleasant it may be to you to enlarge upon the risks you have run, others may not find such pleasure in listening to your adventures.
Epictetus Golden Sayings, No. CLXXI · translated by Hastings Crossley -
Why we cry out so much against maxims which lay bare the heart of man, is because we fear that our own heart shall be laid bare.
François de La Rochefoucauld Maxims (supplement), Supplement, LXVII · translated by J. W. Willis Bund and J. Hain Friswell -
Moderation is like temperance in eating; we could eat more but we fear to make ourselves ill.
François de La Rochefoucauld Maxims (supplement), Supplement, IV · translated by J. W. Willis Bund and J. Hain Friswell -
We often believe we have constancy in misfortune when we have nothing but debasement, and we suffer misfortunes without regarding them as cowards who let themselves be killed from fear of defending themselves.
François de La Rochefoucauld Maxims, Maxim 420 · translated by J. W. Willis Bund and J. Hain Friswell -
Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark.
Francis Bacon Essays -
The man who cannot blush, and who has no feelings of fear, has reached the acme of impudence.
Menander -
Examination, like fire, is a good servant, but a bad master; and there seems to me to be some danger of its becoming our master.
Thomas Henry Huxley Aphorisms and Reflections, No. CVI -
I do not wish to crow unduly over my humble cousin the orang, but in the aesthetic province, as in that of the intellect, I am afraid he is nowhere.
Thomas Henry Huxley Aphorisms and Reflections, No. CCLIV -
The concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear.
Edmund Burke Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 108 -
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.
Alexander Pope -
Curst be the verse, how well soe’er it flow, That tends to make one worthy man my foe, Give virtue scandal, innocence a fear, Or from the soft-ey’d virgin steal a tear.
Alexander Pope -
Fear is far more painful to cowardice than death to true courage.
Philip Sidney -
I cannot conceive of a wisdom that lacks distrust: according to the Scriptures the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God—I believe it is rather the fear of men.
Nicolas Chamfort Maxims and Thoughts, No. 12 · translated by William G. Hutchison -
<<By David.>> Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
Bible (World English Bible) Psalms, 27:1 -
Never be ashamed nor afraid of asking questions; for if they lead to information, and if you accompany them with some excuse, you will never be reckoned an impertinent or rude questioner.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Letters to His Son -
A little busy mind runs on at all events, must be doing; and, like a blind horse, fears no dangers because he sees none.
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Maxims, Maxim 10 -
And generally, men ought to find the difference between saltness and bitterness. Certainly, he that hath a satirical vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had need be afraid of other’s memory.
Francis Bacon Essays -
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.
Bible (World English Bible) 1 John, 4:18 -
But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.
Bible (World English Bible) Matthew, 6:33–34 -
Alike reserved to blame, or to commend, A timorous foe, and a suspicious friend; Dreading even fools, by flatteries besieged, And so obliging that he ne’er obliged.
Alexander Pope Satires: Prologue -
Early and provident fear is the mother of safety.
Edmund Burke Speech on the Petition of the Unitarians. Vol. vii. p. 50 -
I do see; but that he is in danger, I do not see. Thus then always abide by the first appearances, and add nothing thyself from within, and then nothing happens to thee. Or rather add something like a man who knows everything that happens in the world.
Marcus Aurelius Meditations, Book VIII.49 · translated by George Long -
Envy is a passion so full of cowardice and shame, that nobody ever had the confidence to own it.
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester -
The mere reality of life would be inconceivably poor without the charm of fancy, which brings in its bosom, no doubt, as many vain fears as idle hopes, but lends much oftener to the illusions it calls up a gay flattering hue than one which inspires terror.
Wilhelm von Humboldt -
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 Ancient Mariner, Part vi -
I am troubled by no scruples or doubts; I fear neither hell nor devil.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe In Goethe -
Fear is sharp-sighted, and can see things under ground, and much more in the skies.
Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote, Part i. Book iii. Chap. vi -
Men fear only him who does not know them, and he who shuns them will soon misjudge them.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe