Fear Quotes
Shakespeare leads, with Bertrand Russell second by a distance and then a mixed group of novelists. Russell is the one to read here. In Dreams and Facts (1919) he says no man is liberated from fear who dare not see his place in the world as it is, and in Marriage and Morals (1929) that to fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
Three entries are flagged. “The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself” is credited to Publilius Syrus and is disputed. A parody of the twenty-third Psalm credited to General Patton is marked misattributed. So is “None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear,” credited to Marshal Foch.
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Horror itself in that fair scene looks gay,
And joy springs up e'en in the midst of fear.
“I ain’t afraid of nothin.”
“You’re a bigger fool than I took you for, then.”
Thou can'st not say I did it; never shake
Thy gory locks at me.
A lamb appears a lion, and we fear
Each bush we see's a bear.
Now he'll outstare the lightning. To be furious
Is to be frightened out of fear.