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He stood unmoving, wondering at his own abrupt and incomprehensible inability to act. He did not fear damnation. Nor did he give a fig for the common opinion of Mankind. There was nothing to stop him but fear alone—fear that his reasoning was wrong.

— Michael Swanwick Jack Faust (1997)

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Fear

More quotes by Michael Swanwick

What the common man calls Evil, he once told me, is nothing more than the fear of one’s own potential.

Jack Faust (1997)

Everyone dies—the rearrangement of when is a matter of only statistical interest.

Stations of the Tide (1991)

Indeed, what is magic but impossible science?

Stations of the Tide (1991)

Money can always be traced. It leaves a trail of slime behind it wherever it goes.

Stations of the Tide (1991)

This is the price you must pay for knowledge: You must understand and acknowledge its consequences.

Jack Faust (1997)

All Michael Swanwick quotes →

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To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929)

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

Most intellectual people do not believe in God, but they fear him just the same.

Wilhelm Reich Philosophy : An Introduction to the Art of Wondering (2005)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Michael Swanwick (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.