Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Fear
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“In reality, Orwell did not predict the future post-capitalist society, but simply expressed as no one had done before the West's fear of communism. p. 672”
Alexander Zinoviev (1922–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have said that, in a sense, the parasites were a 'shadow' of man's cowardice and passivity. Their strength could increase in an atmosphere of defeat and panic, for it fed on human fear. In that case, the best way to combat them was to change the atmosphere to one of strength and purpose.”
Colin Wilson (1931–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Christianity was an epidemic rather than a religion. It appealed to fear, hysteria and ignorance. It spread across the Western world, not because it was true, but because humans are gullible and superstitious.”
Colin Wilson (1931–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“. . .the principle that where there is fear, there will be wrong figures. . . .”
W. Edwards Deming (1900–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear God and thou shalt not quail before the terrors of men.”
Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Britain has never been cowed by fear or hatred or terror. Our Great British resolve faced down Hitler; it defeated Communism; it saw off the IRA’s assaults on our way of life. Time and again we have stood up to aggression and tyranny.”
David Cameron (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sometimes I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear.”
Brandon Boyd (born 1976) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My biggest fear will be the rescue of me.”
Brandon Boyd (born 1976) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Human beings do not wish to be modest; they want to be as expressive — that is, as immodest — as fear allows; fashion helps them solve that paradoxical problem.”
Edward Sapir (1884–1939) said by 1939 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The scraping subjects, ruled by fear, they told mewhiskey works better than beer.”
Elliott Smith (1969–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let him who neglects to raise the fallen, fear lest, when he falls, no one will stretch out his hand to lift him up.”
Saadi (1210–1292) said by 1292 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fear of uncertainty is our basic trouble. Uncertainty is the very nature of meaning and the very nature of being, for meaning is always context-dependent. We do not know the context that might come, and this is why we can never be certain that our meanings will be correct and give us security. So if you cannot live with this fact of uncertainty, some distortion is taking place already.”
David Bohm (1917–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This entire opus is respectfully dedicated to all those who have loved unconditionally only to have their hearts unanaesthetically ripped out: Base not your joy on the deeds of others, for what is given can be taken away. No hope = No fear.”
Peter Steele (1962–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time; effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end: we fancy that we have always possessed what we love, so difficult is it to imagine how we could have lived without it.”
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (1766–1817) said by 1817 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bk. 8, ch. 2, as translated by Isabel Hill (1833)
“The Conqueror, whose core issue is safety splits us into Conqueror and Enemy/Victim, tells us, "Don't trust!" and generates fear, paranoia, distortions of reality, and the need to annihilate enemies. The Conqueror seduces us by making us feel special, sometimes grandiose and self-righteous, sometimes especially weak and victimized.”
“To-day we love what to-morrow we hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun; to-day we desire what to-morrow we fear, nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are now in the 21st century: all books, including the Koran, should be fair game for flushing down the toilet without fear of violent reprisal.”
Sam Harris (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the enduring pathologies of human culture is the tendency to raise children to fear and demonize other human beings on the basis of religious faith.”
Sam Harris (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Shall the painter then.. ..decide upon painting? Shall he be the critic and sole authority? Aggressive as is this supposition, I fear that, in the length of time, his assertion alone has established what even the gentleman of the quill accept as the canons of art, and recognize as the masterpieces of work. Seurat's painting of the Grande Jatte proved extremely influential.”
James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) first seen 1892 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quote of Whistler, (1892) In: Gentle Art of making Enemies, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1922, p. 30
“Asked what he gained from philosophy, he answered, "To do without being commanded what others do from fear of the laws.”
Diogenes Laërtius wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Tertullian
“One ought to seek out virtue for its own sake, without being influenced by fear or hope, or by any external influence. Moreover, that in that does happiness consist.”
Diogenes Laërtius wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Tertullian
“A man who is spiritually more developed than others is in a difficult situation, unless he is protected by his position and the fear that position instills. Such a man becomes a loner: his standards are different, useless to others, but they still set him apart.”
Meša Selimović (1910–1982) said by 1982 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I fear we might be losing the basic human facility to be alone - and with that you throw out independent decision-making, what to trust, what not to trust, key stuff, a perilous loss.”
Dylan Moran (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Democracy will not come Today, this year Nor ever Through compromise and fear.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh man, at that end not much has been left of your excellence, nothing of all that you have been boasting about through life - only sex, fear, self-admiration and a few other things you are usually ashamed of.”
Karel Čapek (1890–1938) first seen 1932 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Last Things of Man" (Stories from the Second Pocket, 1932)
“If you’ve had to overcome an obstacle or insecurity or fear... genuinely you can bet on that person because they have gathered themselves and found through their inner strength, they have determination, they have grit.”
Carly Fiorina (born 1954) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: David Webb Show (5 August 2015).
“As a novelist, I have a somewhat higher soapbox to stand on than most people do when it comes to talking back to the merchants of fear.”
L. Neil Smith (1946–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If there were a generic one-word expression for 'one whose fear of the uncertainties of success moves him to surrender at the very moment of victory', it would be 'Republican'.”
L. Neil Smith (1946–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My fear is that if it is not resolved then it will be Fijians shooting Fijians.”
Josaia Waqabaca wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Indeed, I greatly fear that for most of our people those implanted "humanitarian" hallucinations are so deep and inveterate that they can be broken, if at all, only by the terrible shock of physical suffering. And that they will surely receive.”
Revilo P. Oliver (1908–1994) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What We Owe Our Parasites", speech (June 1968); Free Speech magazine (October and November 1995)
“Mysticism and exaggeration go together. A mystic must not fear ridicule if he is to push all the way to the limits of humility or the limits of delight.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No, vertigo is something other than the fear of falling. It is the voice of emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is asserted that the dogs keep running when they drink at the Nile, for fear of becoming a prey to the voracity of the crocodile.”
Pliny the Elder (20–79) said by 79 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She closed her eyes. And while her intellect wouldn’t let her realize her deepest fear, that all this might soon be gone forever, nevertheless she stood there for a time and worshipped the only way a person like her could worship—in silence and solitude, under the temple of the sky.”
David Brin (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What hope has any endeavor which is based on hate and fear?”
David Brin (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A bystander...remarked, '...One day of life is weightier than ten thousand pieces of gold...It is not because they do not fear death, but because they forget the nearness of death that men do not rejoice in life. One may say that he has grasped the true principle who is unconcerned with the manifestation of life or death.' When he said this people scoffed at him more than ever.”
Yoshida Kenkō (1283–1350) said by 1350 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hitherto your eyes have been darkened and you have looked too much, yes, far too much, upon the things of earth. If these so much delight you what shall be your rapture when you lift your gaze to things eternal! When I heard her thus speak, though my fear still clung about me, with trembling voice I made reply in Virgil's words —”
Petrarch (1304–1374) said by 1374 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But you have one thing that may save you, and that is your youth. This is your great strength. It is also why I hate and fear you. Hear me out. It has been said that children are our future. But does that not also mean that we are their past? You are here to replace us. I don't understand why we're here helping and honoring them. You do not see union workers holding benefits for robots.”
Stephen Colbert (born 1964) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Knox College commencement address (3 June 2006)
“Homophobia: The fear of feelings of love for members of one’s own sex and therefore the hatred of those feelings in others.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The erotic offers a well of replenishing and provocative force to the woman who does not fear its revelation, nor succumb to the belief that sensation is enough.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is never easy to demand the most from ourselves, from our lives, from our work. To encourage excellence is to go beyond the encouraged mediocrity of our society is to encourage excellence. But giving in to the fear of feeling and working to capacity is a luxury only the unintentional can afford, and the unintentional are those who do not wish to guide their own destinies.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ascetic position is one of the highest fear, the gravest immobility. The severe abstinence of the ascetic becomes the ruling obsession. And it is one not of self-discipline but of self-abnegation.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The knowledge of fear can help make us free.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Music has taken a bad turn; these young people have no idea how to write a melody, they just give us shavings, which they dress up to look like a lion's mane and shake at us... It's as if they avoid melodies, for fear of having perhaps stolen them from someone else.”
Richard Wagner (1813–1883) first seen 1880 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 21 June 1880
“At this very moment, so many of them, our fellow Americans, are on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives and still — still are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America," he said. "It's wrong, it's un-American, and it must stop.”
“Jill and I bring you this message from deep in our nation’s soul: In America, evil will not win — I promise you. Hate will not prevail. And white supremacy will not have the last word.For the evil did come to Buffalo, and it’s come to all too many places, manifested in gunmen who massacred innocent people in the name of hateful and perverse ideology rooted in fear and racism.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Biden tells Buffalo shooting mourners: 'Evil will not win. Hate will not prevail' – live (May 17, 2022), The Guardian
“People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer. The United States continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the American people against those who seek to do us harm. … we make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
“God Lyaeus, ever young, Ever honour’d, ever sung, Stain’d with blood of lusty grapes, In a thousand lusty shapes Dance upon the mazer’s brim, In the crimson liquor swim; From thy plenteous hand divine Let a river run with wine: God of youth, let this day here Enter neither care nor fear.”
John Fletcher (1579–1625) said by 1625 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let no man fear to die: We love to sleep all, And death is but the sounder sleep.”
John Fletcher (1579–1625) said by 1625 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source