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
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Fear
LoveFriendshipHappinessHopeFearCourageDeathLifeTimeWarPeaceFreedomTruthWisdomKnowledgeScienceArtMusicNatureMoneyWorkPowerGodBeautyLaughterFamilySuccess and failureChangeDreamsBooks and reading
“The strange thing about growing old is that the intimate identification with the here and now is slowly lost; one feels transposed into infinity, more or less alone, no longer in hope or fear, only observing.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Queen Mother Elisabeth of Belgium (12 January 1953), Einstein Archive 32-405. Quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel by Banesh Hoffman (1973), p. 261, and also partially quoted (with a reference to the e…
“Hail to the man who went through life always helping others, knowing no fear, and to whom aggressiveness and resentment are alien. Such is the stuff of which the great moral leaders are made.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The God Spinoza revered is my God, too: I meet Him everyday in the harmonious laws which govern the universe. My religion is cosmic, and my God is too universal to concern himself with the intentions of every human being. I do not accept a religion of fear; My God will not hold me responsible for the actions that necessity imposes. My God speaks to me through laws.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I feel that this way of non-violence is vital because it is the only way to reestablish the broken community. It is the method which seeks to implement the just law by appealing to the conscience of the great decent majority who through blindness, fear, pride or irrationality have allowed their consciences to sleep.”
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In his essay "Self-Reliance" Emerson wrote, "Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist." The Apostle Paul reminds us that whoso would be a Christian must also be a a nonconformist. Any Christian who blindly accepts the opinions of the majority and in fear and timidity follows a path of expediency and social approval is a mental and spiritual slave.”
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Until I die there will be sounds. And they will continue following my death. One need not fear about the future of music.”
John Cage (1912–1992) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote of "Experimental Music", John Cage (1957)
“But America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Special Message to the Congress: The President's First Economic Report (January 8, 1947)
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States (August 8, 1950)
“No man is liberated from fear who dare not see his place in the world as it is; no man can achieve the greatness of which he is capable until he has allowed himself to see his own littleness.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dreams and Facts (1919)
“An irrational fear should never be simply let alone, but should be gradually overcome by familiarity with its fainter forms.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1926 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Education, Especially in Early Childhood (1926), Ch. 4: Fear
“I wish to propose for the reader's favourable consideration a doctrine which may, I fear, appear wildly paradoxical and subversive. The doctrine in question is this: that it is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I regard [religion] as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Acquisitiveness – the wish to possess as much as possible of goods, or the title to goods – is a motive which, I suppose, has its origin in a combination of fear with the desire for necessaries.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I must confess that I am deeply troubled. I fear that human beings are intent upon acting out a vast deathwish and that it lies with us now to make every effort to promote resistance to the insanity and brutality of policies which encompass the extermination of hundreds of millions of human beings.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Rudolf Carnap, June 21, 1962
“All-powerful god, who am I but the fear that I inspire in others?”
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I came to claim my kingdom and you refused me because I was not one of you. Now I am one of you, my subjects, we are bound by blood, and I deserve to be your king. Your sins and your remorse, your mighty anguish, I take all upon myself. Fear your dead no more, they are my dead.”
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.”
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is the true and original root of Dutch aversion to British rule? It is the abiding fear and hatred of the movement that seeks to place the native on a level with the white man ... the Kaffir is to be declared the brother of the European, to be constituted his legal equal, to be armed with political rights.”
Winston Churchill (1874–1965) first seen 1900 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Boer War, London to Ladysmith via Pretoria (1900).
“A love of tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril; but the new view must come, the world must roll forward ... Let us have no fear of the future.”
Winston Churchill (1874–1965) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons, November 29, 1944 "Debate on the Address".
“A cowardly act! What do I care about that? You may be sure that I should never fear to commit one if it were to my advantage.”
Napoleon (1769–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by George Gordon Andrews in Napoleon in Review (1939)
“Parties weaken themselves by their fear of capable men.”
Napoleon (1769–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not the well-fed long-haired man I fear, but the pale and the hungry looking.”
Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) said by 44 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Obedience simulates subordination as fear of the police simulates honesty.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women are not angels. They are as foolish as men in many ways; but they have had to devote themselves to life whilst men have had to devote themselves to death; and that makes a vital difference in male and female religion. Women have been forced to fear whilst men have been forced to dare: the heroism of a woman is to nurse and protect life, and of a man to destroy it and court death.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language ... not in a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions.”
Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have gained this by philosophy ... I do without being ordered what some are constrained to do by their fear of the law.”
Aristotle (384–322 BC) said by 322 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”
Confucius (551–479 BC) said by 479 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear makes us feel our humanity.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But this principle of race is unfortunately one of the reasons why I fear war may always exist; because race implies difference, difference implies superiority, and superiority leads to predominance.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1849 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (1 February 1849)
“Fear not, then, thou child infirm, There's no god dare wrong a worm.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Too busy with the crowded hour to fear to live or die.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In order to learn the important lessons in life, one must each day surmount to fear.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: There are ongoing disputes on who should receive credit for this quote. The earliest match that could be found was in an article published by Los Angeles Times in 1936, which attributed the quote to Elbert Hubbard, but …
“I do not fear men-at-arms; my way has been made plain before me. If there be men-at-arms my Lord God will make a way for me to go to my Lord Dauphin. For that am I come.”
Joan of Arc (1412–1431) said by 1431 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As given in The Life of Joan of Arc (1909) by Anatole France, tr. Winifred Stevens, vol. i, p. 97, referencing Trials, vol. i, p. 449.
“We –finally—look upon change, the every-unfolding future, with confidence rather than doubt, hope rather than fear. We, as a people, were born of revolution. And we have lived by change—always a frontier people, exploring—if not new wilderness—then new science and new knowledge.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The peoples of the world must have courage, dare to fight, and fear no hardships. When the ones in front fall, the others behind must follow up. In this way, the world will belong to the people and all the demons will be eliminated.”
Mao Zedong (1893–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We mustn't fear to adopt the advanced management methods applied in capitalist countries (...) The very essence of socialism is the liberation and development of the productive systems (...) Socialism and market economy are not incompatible (...) We should be concerned about right-wing deviations, but most of all, we must be concerned about left-wing deviations.”
Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cited by António Caeiro in Pela China Dentro (translated), Dom Quixote, Lisboa, 2004.
“Government of limited power need not be anemic government. Assurance that rights are secure tends to diminish fear and jealousy of strong government, and by making us feel safe to live under it makes for its better support.”
Robert H. Jackson (1892–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No nation can be really great that is held together by Gatling guns, and no true loyalty can be induced and kept through fear.”
Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have always felt that doubt was the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of God was the end of wisdom.”
Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Advertisers are the interpreters of our dreams — Joseph interpreting for Pharaoh. Like the movies, they infect the routine futility of our days with purposeful adventure. Their weapons are our weaknesses: fear, ambition, illness, pride, selfishness, desire, ignorance. And these weapons must be kept as bright as a sword.”
E. B. White (1899–1985) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Truth in Advertising," The New Yorker (11 July 1936)
“Nothing is so much to be feared as fear. Atheism may comparatively be popular with God himself.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) first seen 1851 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: September 7, 1851
“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.”
James A. Michener (1907–1997) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Good Advice (1982) by William Safire and Leonard Safir. Original appearance in Holiday magazine, March 1956, pp. 40-51.
“Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.”
Albert Camus (1913–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He knew she was there by the joy and fear that overwhelmed his heart.”
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Remember, FDA employees are serious about fear. We pay these people to panic about an iota of rodent hair in our chili, even when the recipe calls for it. FDA employees are first-class agonizers, world champions at losing sleep. When Meryl Streep got hysterical about Alar, they actually checked the apples instead of Meryl's head.”
P. J. O'Rourke (1947–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Traffic was like a bad dog. It wasn't important to look both ways when crossing the street; it was important to not show fear.”
P. J. O'Rourke (1947–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Public opinion, in its raw state, gushes out in the immemorial form of the mob's fear. It is piped into central factories, and there it is flavoured and coloured and put into cans.”
H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) first seen 1926 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes on Democracy (1926)
“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”
H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source