Never stop because you are afraid – you are never so likely to be wrong. Never keep a line of retreat: it is a wretched invention. The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer. Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer
What cannot be avoided
’Twere childish weakness to lament of fear. William Shakespeare, Richard Duke of York V iv 37-38
For did I but suspect a fearful man,
He should have leave to go away betimes,
Lest in our need he might infect another
And make him of like spirit to himself. ibid. V iv 44-48, Prince Edward to others
Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar I ii 193-194, Caesar
Would he were fatter! but I fear him not. ibid. I ii 197
Farewell. God knows when we shall meet again.
I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins
That almost freezes up the heat of life. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet IV iii 14-16, Juliet to self
… but now grown fearful,
By what yourself too late have spoke and done. William Shakespeare, The History of King Lear I iv 200-201
Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings;
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smothered in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not. William Shakespeare, Macbeth I iii 137
Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? ibid. I vii 39-41, Lady Macbeth
But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears. ibid. III iv 24
When our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors. ibid. IV ii 3-4, Lady Macbeth
All is the fear and nothing is the love. ibid. IV ii 12, Lady Macbeth
But cruel are the times when we are traitors
And do not now ourselves; when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and none. ibid. IV ii @18, Ross
What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? ibid. V i
I have almost forgot the taste of fears.
The time has been my senses would have cooled
To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in’t. I have supped full with horrors;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start me. ibid. V v 9, Macbeth
Tempt him not so too far …
In time we hate that which we often fear. William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra I iii 11-12, Charmian
Ebbing men, indeed,
Most often do so near the bottom run
By their own fear or sloth. William Shakespeare, The Tempest II ii @231, Antonio
The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed,
And extreme fear can neither fight nor fly,
But coward-like with trembling terror die. William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece, 229-231
Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it. They know that America is not a place of which it can be said, as it used to be, that a man may choose his own calling and pursue it just as far as his abilities enable him to pursue it; because to-day, if he enters certain fields, there are organizations which will use means against him that will prevent his building up a business which they do not want to have built up; organizations that will see to it that the ground is cut from under him and the markets shut against him. For if he begins to sell to certain retail dealers, to any retail dealers, the monopoly will refuse to sell to those dealers, and those dealers, afraid, will not buy the new man's wares. Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom 1914 [often quoted out of context]
Fear is the mother of morality. Friedrich Nietzsche
And from your policy do not wholly banish fear. For what man living, freed from fear, will still be just? Aeschylus, c.525-456 B.C.
If you want to control someone, all you have to do is to make them feel afraid. Paulo Coelho
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny ‘failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions’. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself,’ Otto replied. ‘Oh, and a megalomaniacal headmaster, the world’s deadliest assassin, giant mutated plant monsters, an international cartel of supervillains, and the security forces of every country on earth, but other than that ... just fear.’ Mark Walden, The Overlord Protocol
Children have a lesson adults should learn, to not be ashamed of failing, but to get up and try again. Most of us adults are so afraid, so cautious, so ‘safe’, and therefore so shrinking and rigid and afraid that it is why so many humans fail. Most middle-aged adults have resigned themselves to failure. Malcolm X
I don't run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run towards it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your foot. Nadia Comaneci
There is nothing more liberating than having your worst fear realized. Conan O'Brien
He is terribly afraid of dying because he hasn’t yet lived. Franz Kafka
My ‘fear’ is my substance, and probably the best part of me. Franz Kafka
No power so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. Edmund Burke
The concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear. Edmund Burke
I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. Rosa Parks
Fear makes us feel our humanity. Benjamin Disraeli
Fear is the foundation of most governments. John Adams, Thoughts on Governments, 1776
The fear of some divine and supreme powers keeps men in obedience. Robert Burton
Ralphie a fucking Capo – over my dead body. The Sopranos s3e8: He is Risen, Tony, HBO 2001
You think I’m afraid of that fat fuck? ibid. Richie re Tony
They need a little bit of fear otherwise they’ll come up against me. RocknRolla 2008 starring Gerard Butler & Tom Wilkinson & Mark Strong & Toby Kebbell & Tom Hardy & Idris Elba & Karel Roden & Thankdie Newton & Dragan Micanovic & David Bark-Jones et al, director Guy Ritchie, Lenny
We finally meet face to face. Are you afraid of me? A Bronx Tale 1993 starring Lillo Brancato junior & Robert De Niro & Chazz Palminteri & Taral Hicks & Francis Capra & Joe Pesci & Clem Caserta & Kathrine Narducci et al, director Robert De Niro, gangsta to Calogero
People don’t respect him; they fear him. ibid. dad to Calogero
It’s what people know about themselves inside that makes them afraid. High Plains Drifter 1973 starring Clint Eastwood & Verna Bloom & Marianna Hill & Mitchell Ryan & Jack Ging & Ted Hartley & Billy Curtis & Dan Vadis & Geoffrey Lewis et al, director Clint Eastwood, Man With No Name