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Fear
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“Surrendering to fear and allowing ourselves to be paralyzed by peril isn't something most of us can afford to do.”
Ben Carson (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The point is, we can decry the dangers we face or ignore them or even allow ourselves to be paralyzed by fear.”
Ben Carson (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The decision to become an individual, to allow oneself to be moved by the deepest impulses of the self rather than the social consensus, can only be made with fear and trembling.”
Sam Keen (1931–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is simply not true that capitalism as a historical system has represented progress over the various previous historical systems that it destroyed or transformed. Even as I write this, I feel the tremour that accompanies the sense of blasphemy. I fear the wrath of the gods, for I have been moulded in the same ideological forge as all my compeers and have worshipped at the same shrines.”
Immanuel Wallerstein (1930–2019) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wallerstein (1995) Historical Capitalism, with Capitalist Civilization. London: Verso. p. 98.
“Paranoia speaks to a deeper drive than fear. Paranoia is a defiant charge to a cold, unfeeling cosmos: “Hear me! I exist! I’m important!” Because after all, if someone is actually orchestrating the chaos of the universe against you personally, then you do matter. When no one seems to care anymore, at least “enemies” give you the comforting illusion that you count.”
Malcolm Azania (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“::::And on the surface of the ancient home, they die in scores of wars and by legions of plagues, and against the poets’ and prophets’ promises for unity born in fear of doomsday, they fight like Tyrannosaurs raging and ripping the life from each other’s scaly necks while the comet smote the firmament, and murdered the skies to doom them all.”
Malcolm Azania (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You had better go where Fate leads— Drift on the Stream of Infinite Flux, Without joy, without fear: When you must go—then go.”
Tao Yuanming (365–427) said by 427 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All men saved from the scattering influences of society by a powerful incentive, a cause, or an ideal of individual perfection, seldom fear the danger of being distracted by comers and goers.”
Ernest Dimnet (1866–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today, I don't think that there is a fear of Islam as such but of ISIS and its war of conquest, which is partly drawn from Islam. It is true that the idea of conquest is inherent in the soul of Islam. However, it is also possible to interpret the objective in Matthew's Gospel, where Jesus sends his disciples to all nations, in terms of the same idea of conquest.”
Pope Francis (1936–2025) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: INTERVIEW Pope Francis by Guillaume Goubert and Sébastien Maillard for La Croix (17 May 2016); translation by Stefan Gigacz.
“My thought is always, ‘It’s only downhill from here’. That’s how I’ve always operated, ever since I began Family Guy. I had the crippling fear that I used up all the funny last week. That crippling insecurity really drives you to do your best. Your moments of pure joy are few and far between, but they do exist.”
Seth MacFarlane (born 1973) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Seth Macfarlane: Interview With a Demented Genius, at the annual media leadership conference TheGrill, quoted in Oscar host Seth MacFarlane: 'Crippling insecurity drives you to do your best', Inside Movies, 2 October 20…
“Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity.”
Thomas Watson Jr. (1914–1993) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed to Watson Jr. in: "Stand up and be counted" in: Year: encyclopedia news annual (1965). p. 280.
“The things we fear most in organizations - fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances - need not be signs ofan impending disorder that will destroy us. Instead, fluctuations are the primary source of creativity.”
Margaret Wheatley (born 1941) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 19-20 as cited in: Michael C. Jackson (2000) Systems Approaches to Management. p. 77
“When we can lay down our fear and anger and choose responses other than aggression, we create the conditions for bringing out the best in us humans.”
Margaret Wheatley (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Studying oneself is not the most comfortable of enterprises. One is caught between the desire to show oneself in the best possible light and the fear of claiming more than one’s due.”
Kenneth Arrow (1921–2017) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: lecture at Trinity University, November 5, 1984. published in William Breit, Barry T. Hirsch (ed.), Lives of the Laureates (5th ed., 2009)
“Though we may in quiet times confront the fact that we are going to die, much of our daily life is lived in the artificial realness created through culture. This illusion of realness helps to disguise our unconscious fear that everything is highly vulnerable and transitory.”
Gareth Morgan (business theorist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Writing is more than anything a compulsion, like some people wash their hands thirty times a day for fear of awful consequences if they do not. It pays a whole lot better than this type of compulsion, but it is no more heroic.”
Julie Burchill (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was, indeed, a time when China had mentally less in common with India than with the West, but fear of America had drawn the two great Eastern peoples together. They agreed at least in earnest hate of that strange blend of the commercial traveller, the missionary, and the barbarian conqueror, which was the American abroad.”
Olaf Stapledon (1886–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only in couples and in little circles of companions could they support true community, the communion of mutual insight and respect and love. But in their tribes and nations they conceived all too easily the sham community of the pack, baying in unison of fear and hate.”
Olaf Stapledon (1886–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it.”
Edward Snowden (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Abandoning open society for fear of terrorism is the only way to be defeated by it.”
Edward Snowden (born 1983) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter (February 9, 2016)
“The political argument that we get here all the time is if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”
Edward Snowden (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The more I traveled the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.”
Shirley MacLaine (born 1934) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Don't Fall Off the Mountain (1970)
“A Muslim is he who carries the fear of God in his heart and tries, by following the ways of Islam, to rise in spiritual stature: and not merely he who happens to have been born in a Muslim house and bears a Muslim name.”
Muhammad Asad (1900–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I find in myself by the grace of God a satisfaction without nourishment, love without fear”
Catherine of Genoa (1447–1510) said by 1510 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear goes where it is invited.”
Tad Williams (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man has created a grandiose world of technology, of which dread and fear are often the result... Fortunately, events in the world and our way of life are not determined by technology alone.”
Karel Zeman (1910–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Maybe the body finds untapped reserves when it needs to; maybe the fear of dying makes it do extraordinary things.”
Simon Mayo (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since I'm shouldering this commitment, I will do it with courage and without fear. Being the president of the Republic of China is no simple task.”
Hung Hsiu-chu (born 1948) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hung Hsiu-chu (2015) cited in "KMT denies no-confidence vote plan" on The China Post, 10 September 2015.
“out in what I knew damn well was the real world—of literature and everything else—my agony was how to begin. (How do you?) You begin. (What had held you back?) Fear.”
Hortense Calisher (1911–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The opportunity presented by European slave dealers became the major (though not the only) stimulus for a great deal of social violence between different African communities and within any given community. It took the form more of raiding and kidnapping than of regular warfare, and that fact increased the element of fear and uncertainty.”
Walter Rodney (1942–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What I fear is going on in the House now is an effort to target Congresswoman Omar as a way of stifling that debate. That’s wrong Anti-Semitism is a hateful and dangerous ideology which must be vigorously opposed in the United States and around the world We must not, however, equate anti-Semitism with legitimate criticism of the right-wing, Netanyahu government in Israel.”
Bernie Sanders (born 1941) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 7 March 2019 referencing Ilhan Omar and Benjamin Netanyahu
“We also call upon our Saudi neighbors to let us pursue a democratic path....In many cases, Yemeni tribal leaders and other prominent individuals have received far more generous aid payments from Riyadh than from the Yemeni government...Saudi interference in Yemen is also motivated by a fear that the Arab Spring...might soon reach Riyadh”
Tawakkol Karman (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The national park idea, the best idea we ever had, was inevitable as soon as Americans learned to confront the wild continent not with fear and cupidity but with delight, wonder, and awe.”
Wallace Stegner (1909–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best poetry of the second World war written by both British & American servicemen need not fear comparison with the generally more well highly regarded work of the 1914-18 poets.”
Vernon Scannell (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must learn two things. One is to see ourselves as others see us. We apply one yardstick when we wish to appraise other people. Secondly, we cannot succeed in anything if we act in fear of other people's opinions.”
C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rajagopalachari, quoted in: R. K. Murthi (1979) Rajaji, life and work, p. 155
“My greatest fear is giving performances. I feel I am responsible for the audience BUT I am also scared of them.”
M. S. Subbulakshmi (1916–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How much do babies cost?" said he The other night upon my knee; And then I said: "They cost a lot; A lot of watching by a cot, A lot of sleepless hours and care, A lot of heart-ache and despair, A lot of fear and trying dread, And sometimes many tears are shed In payment for our babies small, But every one is worth it all.”
Edgar Guest (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You would have to sit at the board and sweat and feel the fear of defeat or the nearness of victory to understand what goes through a player's head … If you think it's that easy, switch off the computer and try and figure out a few moves on your own.”
Viswanathan Anand (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have a vision of India: an India free of hunger and fear, an India free of illiteracy and want. I dream of an India that is prosperous, strong and caring. An India, that regains a place of honour in the comity of great nations.”
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vajpayee during his 1999 Independence Day speech. Quoted from Vajpayee No More: Here Are His Five Most Powerful Quotes Swaraja, Aug 16 2018
“My young friends, you are soldiers in the battle of freedom-freedom from want, fear, ignorance, frustration and helplessness. By a dint of hard work for the country, rendered in a spirit of selfless service, may you march ahead with hope and courage.”
Bidhan Chandra Roy (1882–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My young friends, you are soldiers in the battle of freedom- a freedom from want,a freedom from fear,a freedom from ignorance,a freedom from frustration and helplessness....By dint of hard work for the country, rendered in a spirit of selfless service may you march ahead with hope and courage...Remember in this dynamic world you must go forward or else you will be left behind...”
Bidhan Chandra Roy (1882–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take risks and don't fear failure”
Waheeda Rehman (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I think about all the children Hillary Clinton has personally murdered and chopped up and raped, I have zero fear standing up against her. Yeah, you heard me right. Hillary Clinton has personally murdered children. I just can't hold back the truth anymore. Hillary Clinton is one of the most vicious serial killers the planet's ever seen.”
Alex Jones (born 1974) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said in a YouTube video posted on 4 November 2016, as quoted in "Alex Jones: ‘Hillary Clinton Has Personally Murdered And Chopped Up And Raped' Children" by Brian Tashman, Right Wing Watch (8 December 2016)
“So broke with pain, he shrinks in dread To see the 'dresser' drawing near; and winds the clothes about his head That none may see his heart-sick fear. His shaking, strangled sobs you hear.”
Eva Dobell (1876–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here one cries sudden on a sobbing breath, Gripped in the clutch of some incarnate fear What terror through the darkness draweth near? What memory of carnage and ofdeath What vanished scenes of dread to his closed eyes appear?”
Eva Dobell (1876–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The seasons come and the seasons go, the summer fruit and the winter snow, but here we are, and here we stay — until the time to go away. Ah, they say, there's a land that is great, and is grand; there's no fear, and no pain — we will all live again — and everyone will find the ones they love.”
Eden ahbez (1908–1995) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Wanderer" from Eden's Island (1960)
“We unwittingly focus on fear and distrust, as if those were the only possible options available to us, while all along we have the alternative of deliberately centering our attention on the opposite, the mystery, the wonder of what is happening to us.”
Carlos Castaneda (1925–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Storms in the forest have a more primal character than storms playing over tamed urban land. A vigorous cloudburst is exhilarating, a burst of sensory delight with its leafy smells, gray light, and chill. But a full tree-ripping storm pushes the senses beyond exhilaration or thrill, into fear.”
David G. Haskell (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I heard, fear-stricken and amazed, My speech tongue-tied, my hair upraised.”
John Conington (1825–1869) said by 1869 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear proves a base-born soul.”
John Conington (1825–1869) said by 1869 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source