Sign in with your pod

Famous quotes

Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina

Fear

LoveFriendshipHappinessHopeFearCourageDeathLifeTimeWarPeaceFreedomTruthWisdomKnowledgeScienceArtMusicNatureMoneyWorkPowerGodBeautyLaughterFamilySuccess and failureChangeDreamsBooks and reading

• “Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise! From Marlb'rough's eyes the streams of dotage flow, And Swift expires, a driv'ler and a show.”

  Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) said by 1784 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Such groundless fears will arise in the mind, before it has resumed its vigour after sleep!”

  James Boswell (1740–1795) first seen 1773 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: (1 September 1773)

• “First our pleasures die — and then Our hopes, and then our fears — and when These are dead, the debt is due, Dust claims dust — and we die too.”

  Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) first seen 1820 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Death (1820), st. 3

• “Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way.”

  Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “It is impossible for someone to dispel his fears about the most important matters if he doesn't know the nature of the universe but still gives some credence to myths. So without the study of nature there is no enjoyment of pure pleasure. (12)”

  Epicurus (342–270 BC) said by 270 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate!”

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee,—are all with thee!”

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Also quoted by: Henry W. Longfellow

• “My hair is grey, but not with years, Nor grew it white In a single night, As men's have grown from sudden fears.”

  Lord Byron (1788–1824) first seen 1816 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Prisoner of Chillon, st. 1 (1816).

• “She gave me eyes, she gave me ears; And humble cares,and delicate fears; A heart, the fountain of sweet tears; And love, and thought, and joy.”

  William Wordsworth (1770–1850) first seen 1801 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Sparrow's Nest, st. 2 (wr. 1801; pub. 1807)

• “A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years. No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, With rocks, and stones, and trees.”

  William Wordsworth (1770–1850) first seen 1799 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal (wr. 1799; pub. 1800)

• “He spake of love, such love as spirits feel In worlds whose course is equable and pure; No fears to beat away, no strife to heal,— The past unsighed for, and the future sure.”

  William Wordsworth (1770–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Every star, and every pow'r, Look down on this important hour: Lend your protection and defence Every guard of innocence! Help me my Henry to assuage, To gain his love or bear his rage. Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, Hast thou more of pain or pleasure! Chill'd with tears, Kill'd with fears, Endless torments dwell about thee: Yet who would live, and live without thee!”

  Joseph Addison (1672–1719) first seen 1707 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Queen Elinor in Rosamond (c. 1707), Act III, sc. ii

• “The genius smiled upon me with a look of compassion and affability that familiarised him to my imagination, and at once dispelled all the fears and apprehensions with which I approached him. He lifted me from the ground, and, taking me by the hand, ‘Mirza,’ said he, ‘I have heard thee in thy soliloquies; follow me.’”

  Joseph Addison (1672–1719) said by 1719 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Helm nor hauberk's twisted mail, Nor even thy virtues, tyrant, shall avail To save thy secret soul from nightly fears, From Cambria's curse, from Cambria's tears!”

  Thomas Gray (1716–1771) said by 1771 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Fortunately I have never learned to take the good advice I give myself nor the counsel of my fears.”

  Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Are not your kisses then as filthy, and more, As a worm sucking an envenom'd sore? Doth not thy fearful hand in feeling quake, As one which gathering flowers still fears a snake? Is not your last act harsh and violent, As when a plough a stony ground doth rent?”

  John Donne (1572–1631) said by 1631 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Never seek to tell thy love Love that never told can be; For the gentle wind does move Silently, invisibly. I told my love, I told my love, I told her all my heart; Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears— Ah, she doth depart. Soon as she was gone from me A traveler came by Silently, invisibly— Oh, was no deny.”

  William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “He ne'er is crown'd With immortality, who fears to follow Where airy voices lead.”

  John Keats (1795–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Good health is the best weapon against religion. Healthy bodies and healthy minds have never been shaken by religious fears.”

  Emil Cioran (1911–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Instead of trying to still his fears he encouraged them, with that superstitious impression which clings to us all, that if we expect evil very strongly it is the less likely to come; . . .”

  George Eliot (1819–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Love may be increased with fears, May be fanned with sighs, Nurst by fancies, fed by doubts But without Hope it dies!”

  Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “His shroud was damp, his face was white: He said,—"I cannot sleep, Your tears have made my shroud so wet; Oh, mother, do not weep!" Oh, love is strong!—the mother's heart Was filled with tender fears; Oh, love is strong!—and for her child Her grief restrained its tears.”

  Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1832 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: The Little Shroud from The London Literary Gazette (28th April 1832)

• “Grief hath stern and silent powers, And her house is proud ; Not to-day's cold guarded hours Is despair allow'd ; But, shut out with haughty fears, Pride with daylight disappears, From the lovely Zegri Ladye — The Ladye weeping there.”

  Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1838 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: (1838 2) (Vol 53) Subjects for Pictures - The Zegri Lady’s Vigil

• “The startled terror of remorse that dares not think of what it fears, is as inconsistent as all other human feelings.”

  Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I believe that the grand secret of attraction is, that the details always turn on what is present to our fears, or gratifying to our vanity.”

  Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Call in thy death's head there: tie up thy fears.”

  George Herbert (1593–1633) said by 1633 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I can hear another drum beating for the dead that rise, whom Nature's beast fears as they come.”

  Bob Dylan (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Every thinking person fears nuclear war and every technological nation plans for it. Everyone knows it's madness, and every country has an excuse.”

  Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “If a person abandons his prayer such that he neither desires its rewards nor fears its chastisement, for such a person I do not care if he dies a Jew, a Christian or a Magian.”

  Muhammad (571–632) said by 632 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “How happy is the little stone That rambles in the road alone, And doesn't care about careers, And exigencies never fears; Whose coat of elemental brown A passing universe put on; And independent as the sun, Associates or glows alone, Fulfilling absolute decree In casual simplicity.”

  Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) said by 1886 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;”

  Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There is no God, no man-made God; a bigger, stronger, crueller man; Black phantom of our baby-fears, ere Thought, the life of Life, began.”

  Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) said by 1890 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I found the world completely and totally fantastic as a child. Of course, I had the usual fears, like going to school ... For me, back then, school was a crime against young people. It destroyed the seeds of liberty. The teachers didn't encourage knowledge or a positive attitude.”

  David Lynch (1946–2025) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As quoted in Lynch on Lynch (1997; 2005 revised edition) by Chris Rodley, based on personal interviews made from 1993 to 1996.

• “People have told me that everything about me, every facet of my life, psyche, experiences, dreams, and fears, are laid out explicitly in my writing, that from the corpus of my work I can be absolutely and precisely inferred. This is true.”

  Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.”

  Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The real persuaders are our appetites, our fears and above all our vanity. The skillful propagandist stirs and coaches these internal persuaders.”

  Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “It is apparently vital that we should be in the dark about ourselves — not to be clear about our intentions, fears, and hopes. There is a stubborn effort in us to set up a compact screen between consciousness and the self.”

  Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Entry (1956)

• “The body is a source of endless trouble to us by reason of the mere requirement of food; and is also liable to diseases which overtake and impede us in the search after truth: and by filling us so full of loves, and lusts, and fears, and fancies, and idols, and every sort of folly, prevents our ever having, as people say, so much as a thought.”

  Socrates (470–399 BC) said by 399 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Mutterings and murmurs, mingling with the rumours of glory, gave rise to fears of an indecisive battle, a precipitate retreat. Insolent voices gave out that a spirit of the lowest category, a guardian angel, the insignificant Arcade, had checked and routed the dazzling host of the three great archangels.”

  Anatole France (1844–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Human history is not the product of the wise direction of human reason, but is shaped by the forces of emotion—our dreams, our pride, our greed, our fears, and our desire for revenge.”

  Lin Yutang (1895–1976) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Confucius Saw Nancy and Essays about Nothing (1936), p. 95

• “I see Alvin with a son. That what he want most.” “I see him with a woman,” said Rien. “That is what he miss the most.” “I see him kneeling by a child’s grave,” said Dead Mary. “That is what he fears the most.”

  Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Wakin' up to find yourself creamin' Check your fears and hope that you're dreamin' A little space is all that I need If these suckers just allow me to breathe Snake pits and Lucifer's burns Can't take the strength I've earned and learned Stepped in depth of the same livin' hell Ain't too proud to die here as well.Do Do Wap is strong in here; Do Do Wap is strong in here, hey! hey!”

  Curtis Mayfield (1942–1999) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Do Do Wap is Strong in Here, from Short Eyes (1977).

• “I think I'm a clinical worrier, I worry about everything and I've always been that way. I want to make sure that everything works out as planned and I just get lost in my worries and fears. As if that isn't enough, I also worry about everybody else and try to carry their burden. It's like I'm trying to carry the weight of the whole world on my shoulders.”

  Jonathan Davis (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The rapacious property-owning American bourgeoisie admits no limits, possesses no scruples and does not share the fears and the cowardice of our bourgeoisie. [They are] violent, absolute criminal. When they feel the need, they simply stain their hands with proletarian blood. They lack any human sense. They are only interested in exploitation.”

  Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) first seen 1911 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As quoted in Mussolini, R.J.B. Bosworth, London and New York, Bloomsbury Academic (2010) p. 70, original source: B. Mussolini, Opera Omnia (ed. E and D. Susmel), Vol. IV, p. 16 (written in 1911)

• “Now is a bearable burden. What buckles the back is the added weight of the past’s mistakes and the future’s fears.”

  Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Failures are often the results of timidity and fears; disappointments are the results of bashfulness; hours of leisure pass away like summer-clouds, therefore, do not waste opportunity of doing good.”

  Ali (599–661) said by 661 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The wizards represent all that the true "muggle" most fears: They are plainly outcasts and comfortable with being so. Nothing is more unnerving to the truly conventional than the unashamed misfit!”

  J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I've only mentioned my past because, like every other human being on this planet, I have a complex backstory, which shapes my fears, my interests and my opinions. I never forget that inner complexity when I'm creating a fictional character and I certainly never forget it when it comes to trans people.”

  J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes — and we must.”

  Jimmy Carter (1924–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “No, do not let your fears eat the happiness in front of you. Or your grief consume your future? That was harder.”

  Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

More