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. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

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Fear

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“You gotta be cool when you're macho man, cuz you can't be sensitive and care about someone having a good time in bed, cuz that's too scary... When you don't use sensitivity when you're having sex, or share some of your soul, nothing gonna happen, because men really get afraid. Men really get scared in bed.”
Richard Pryor (1940–2005) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The time of his life", The Guardian (7 June 2004)
“I can make it through the rain, I can stand up once again, on my own, and I know, that I’m strong enough to mend, and every time I feel afraid I hold tighter to my faith, and I live one more day and I make it through the rain.”
Mariah Carey (born 1969) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Through The Rain", Charmbracelet, 2002
“I'm hostile to men, I'm hostile to women, I'm hostile to cats, to poor cockroaches, I'm afraid of horses.”
Norman Mailer (1923–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's no such thing as not being afraid.”
Robert De Niro (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ!”
Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Homily of His Holiness John Paul II for the Inauguration of his Pontificate, St. Peter's Square, Vatican City, on Sunday, 22 October 1978. Archived from the original on March 24, 2022.
“I plead with you--never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.”
Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pope John Paul II, Anthony F. Chiffolo (Editor): Pope John Paul II: In My Own Words. Published August 6th 2002 by Gramercy Books (first published October 1998).
“Young people of every continent, do not be afraid to be the saints of the new millennium! Be contemplative, love prayer; be coherent with your faith and generous in the service of your brothers and sisters, be active members of the Church and builders of peace.”
Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Message of the Holy Father to the Youth of the World on the Occasion of the 15th World Youth Day, From the Vatican, 1999
“I am never afraid of pure atheism; it is the flabby kind of sentimental deism that annoys me, because it is as slippery as air.”
Henry Adams (1838–1918) said by 1918 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She is becoming afraid to go out. Windows are broken. She finds excreta pushed through her letterbox. When she goes to the shops, she is followed by children, charming, wide-grinning piccaninnies. They cannot speak English, but one word they know. 'Racialist,' they chant.”
Enoch Powell (1912–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A quotation from a letter Powell said had been sent to him from Northumberland, referring to one of his constituents. (According to a BBC radio programme broadcast in January 2007, the person in question was Druscilla C…
“Few artists have ever battled so manfully with management or so unheitatingly sassed the press. He was afraid of nobody because his heart was pure.”
William Kapell (1922–1953) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Virgil Thompson, "On William Kapell", New York Herald-Tribune (October, 1953).
“First, there are good people out there; they just don’t make so much of a racket. Second, if you don’t make waves, then the bad guys don’t get washed overboard. And third, nobody bothers to bad-mouth you unless they’re afraid of you. So think of it as kind of a compliment.”
Barbara Boxer (born 1940) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Barbara Boxer, in Blind Trust, a novel, Chronicle Books, San Francisco 2009, p. 30.
“We face many dangerous threats in this dangerous world, but I'm not afraid of them. I'm prepared for them.”
John McCain (1936–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And the mercy seat is melting, And I think my blood is boiling, And in a way I'm spoiling, All the fun with all this truth and consequence. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, And anyway I told the truth, And I'm not afraid to die.”
Nick Cave (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men and women will never understand each other; we all know that. It's just not gonna happen; just forget it. I know I will not understand women. I know I will never be able to understand how a woman could take boiling hot wax, pour it on her upper thighs, rip the hair out by the root... and still be afraid of a spider.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If anything were required to convert me to the need for Scottish Home Rule, I think it was that solitary experience I had upon a Private Bill Committee... [P]urely local, and if I may say purely provincial questions ought to be delegated to purely provincial and—I am not afraid to use the word—national assemblies.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to a deputation of the Parliamentary Committee of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (23 October 1917), quoted in The Times (25 October 1917), p. 3
“Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.”
Nat King Cole (1919–1965) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comment on why his hit NBC TV show couldn't get a national sponsor. (1956) Quoted in article at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
“Only those afraid of the truth seek to silence debate, intimidate those with whom they disagree, or slander their ideological counterparts. Those who know they are right have no reason to stifle debate because they realize that all opposing arguments will ultimately be overcome by fact.”
Glenn Beck (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This sentence makes me hesitate. I contend to be a fighter for pureness and truth. I hesitate, because I am afraid of you and your attitude towards truth. To say the truth about you is dangerous to life.”
Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I talk about going to his Inauguration and smiling when he took the oath, 'cause I was so afraid he was going to "wreck the economy and muck up the drinking water"… the failure of my pessimistic imagination at that moment boggles my mind now.”
Sarah Vowell (born 1969) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Referring to George W. Bush on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (21 February 2006)
“We need not be afraid to touch, to feel, to show emotion. The easiest thing in the world is to be what you are, what you feel. The hardest thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.”
Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every individual forms his own estimate of himself and that basic estimate goes far toward determining what he becomes. You can do no more than you believe you can. You can be no more than you believe you are. Belief stimulates power within yourself. Have faith in faith. Don't be afraid to trust faith.”
Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stay Alive All Your Life (1957), Epigram, Ch. 1 : The Magnificent Power of Belief
“So what are you afraid of? What is holding you back? What is it that stands in your way? Do it!”
Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We all like to think of ourselves as a standard, and I can see that it is genuinely difficult for the English middle class to suppose that the working class is not desperately anxious to become just like itself. I am afraid this must be unlearned.”
Raymond Williams (1921–1988) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Culture and Society (1958)
“It's pleasing to realize that quite a few people enjoy this sort of playfulness and that they are not afraid to look at the relative nature of rock-hard reality.”
M. C. Escher (1898–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Uncertain of principles, we fall back on emotion; unfamiliar with the past, we are afraid of the future. Increasingly we look to men, ideas, and institutions not from the point of view of how they work, but from the point of view of how they ought to work…”
Henry Steele Commager (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lamachus chid a captain for a fault; and when he had said he would do so no more, "Sir," said he, "in war there is no room for a second miscarriage." Said one to Iphicrates, "What are ye afraid of?" "Of all speeches," said he, "none is so dishonourable for a general as ‘I should not have thought of it.'”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I smiled at him but knew it did not reach my eyes. I smiled because he smiled at me, more reflex than emotion. Inside I was nothing. It was a little like being in shock. Shock is nature's insulation, the thing that shuts you down so you can heal, or sometimes so you can die without hurting, or being afraid...”
Laurell K. Hamilton (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The dog had no name. For a dog to have a name someone must have him and someone must love him, and a dog must have someone. The dog had no one, and no one had the dog. The dog had only the silent empty countryside of the few houses. The dog had only the crumbs and cleaned bones he could pick up at the few houses. The dog had only himself, so the dog had nothing, and he was afraid.”
Meindert DeJong (1906–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do not be afraid to say 'yes' to Jesus, to find your joy in doing his will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others!”
Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm afraid I'm not sufficiently inhibited about the things that other women are inhibited about for me. They feel that you've given away trade secrets.”
Mary McCarthy (1912–1989) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Look (26 February 1964)
“The poet is in the end probably more afraid of the dogmatist who wants to extract the message from the poem and throw the poem away than he is of the sentimentalist who says, "Oh, just let me enjoy the poem.”
Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lecture, "The Themes of Robert Frost" (1947)
“Don't take too seriously all that the neighbors say. Don't be overawed by what the experts say. Don't be afraid to trust your own common sense.”
Benjamin Spock (1903–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have never been over concerned or obsessed with opinion polls or popularity polls. I think a leader who is, is a weak leader. Between being loved and being feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I’m meaningless.”
Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew (1998), as quoted by Business Insider
“Through a marvelous law of natural compensation, he who gives of himself grows, and he who turns inward and lives from small pleasures, is afraid to share them with others, and only thinks avariciously of cultivating his appetites loses his humanity and becomes loneliness itself. He carries in his breast all the dreariness of winter. He becomes in fact and appearance an insect.”
José Martí (1853–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You find him disgusting with his thick mouth and ugly body and wet appealing eyes. You think he's disgusting and you're afraid.”
Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Alma" (Bibi Andersson) in Persona (1966)
“I am not afraid of being thought a sentimentalist when I stand here tonight and tell you that I believe natural beauty has a necessary place in the spiritual development of any individual or any society. I believe that whenever we destroy beauty, or whenever we substitute something man-made and artificial for a natural feature of the earth, we have retarded some part of man's spiritual growth.”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's great to see people who find joy in service and don't close their eyes and aren't afraid.”
Susan Sarandon (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is very sad, but I'm afraid America is bound to forge ahead and nothing can restore the equality between us. If we had interfered in the Confederate War it was then possible for us to reduce the power of the United States to manageable proportions. But two such chances are not given to a nation in the course of its career.”
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) first seen 1878 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lord Selborne after J.P. Morgan acquired a predominating influence in Cunard, White Star and other shipping lines (13 March 1902), quoted in Andrew Roberts, Lord Salisbury: Victorian Titan (1999), p. 50 and Da…
“The more honors I am given , the more afraid I become, that I might not slip in the eyes of my fans. I pray to Allah to preserve me and keep me in his favor. I need his friendship . I do not bother about the disaffections of the times.”
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is an Age of Gods, I am afraid, Master Corum. There are many, big and small, and they crowd the universe. Once it was not so. Sometimes, I suspect, the universe manages with none at all!”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scholarly men were suspect in my town. Women could not admit to scholarship at all. Men are afraid of two things in this world, it seems—women and knowledge. Both threaten their power, eh?”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Are you still afraid?” I asked her. “No,” she said, “I am thankful. The world has been threatened too long by the extraordinary, the supernatural and the monstrous. I shall be happy enough to smell the pines and hear the song of the thrush. And to be with you, Captain von Bek.” “The world is still threatened,” I said to her, “but perhaps not by Lucifer. I held her hand tightly.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are always more afraid than we wish to be, but we can always be braver than we expect.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We pride ourselves on trying to put on the best show we can and we're not afraid to say that we happen to be the best live band in the world”
Billie Joe Armstrong (born 1972) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Q Magazine interview - Jan 2015
“I'm the best. If you have the goods, there's nothing to be afraid of. If somebody doesn’t have the goods, they're insecure. I don't have that problem. I'm not the best actress that ever lived, but I know I'm pretty good.”
Jennifer Lopez (born 1969) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jennifer Lopez shades A-list actress peers in resurfaced interview, by Nadine DeNinno, New York Post, September 25, 2019.
“I was a little afraid of him; not the boy himself, but of what he seemed to be: the victim of the world.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Little Children (1937)
“The race was over. I was last, by ten yards. Without the slightest hesitation I protested and challenged the runners to another race, same distance, back. They refused to consider my proposal, which proved, I knew, that they were afraid to race me. I told them they knew very well I could beat them.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Fifty Yard Dash" (1940)
“This is a big statement and it sounds a little precious. Generally a man is ashamed to make such a statement. He is afraid sophisticated people will laugh at him. But I don't mind. I'm asking sophisticated people to laugh. That is what sophistication is for.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was afraid I might actually know him, might have known him, one of perhaps three hundred Fresno boys I had known thirty years ago, because if I *did* know him, I would have to make something of it, and this just wasn't the time for it.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I also was afraid I was a very bad actress, because I'd become famous very fast and was making money for people. When you're making money, they're never going to tell you whether you're good or bad. They don't care. I knew that if I had any talent, this would kill it. I never wanted to be a famous bad actress!”
Salma Hayek (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source