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Fear
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“My doubts were based on my conviction that the Communist enemy is a voracious beast. The more he is given, the hungrier he becomes. And as long as we of the free nations continue to lead from fear, to react from fright, he will be a well-fed enemy.”
Mark W. Clark (1896–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom. This life is one great object lesson to practice on the principles of immortality and eternal life. Man grows with his higher aims. Let naught that is unholy enter here.”
Karl G. Maeser (1828–1901) first seen 1900 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Written on a chalk board during his Nov. 9th, 1900 visit to Maeser Elementary School in Provo, Utah; Maeser Chalkboards Preserved
“Russia and China will continue to be hysterically fear mongered against because the arms industry needs to keep pumping out weapons to sell and the people need something, someone to blame for why our lives continue to degrade, other than our own government.”
Abby Martin (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And then a feminist rose to complain about the marginalization of women in liturgy and leadership in the Catholic church today. The speaker collapsed in fear, and answered her by mouthing a litany of cliches about sexual equality and decrying past Church practices for being insufficiently open to the contributions of women to the faith. His cowering was embarrassing.”
Jeffrey Tucker (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If little kids could play more, you´d have better engineers, better managers and more inspiration in the workplace.If you deny a toddler the chance to play and then put him in a preschool where he is always competing and being measured, you get fear and that leads to an unwillingness to take risks. You end up with boring adults.”
Nigel Cumberland (born 1967) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted on page 56 in "Under Pressure" by Carl Honoré (2008) and also quoted in the Vancouver Sun newspaper on April 28th 2008 and in a 2013 academic paper entitled Hard Skills Will Qualify You, with Soft Skills You’l…
“It was a common characteristic among the warriors—no fear of death, and only pride for their scars, but little thought of all that could happen in between those two extremes.”
Karen Lord (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With Donald Trump as the presumptive presidential nominee, we are witnessing a populist hijacking of one of the United States' great political parties... [R]ooted in ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism... This troubles me deeply as a Republican, but it troubles me even more as an American.”
Henry Paulson (born 1946) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in CBS News (June 2016)
“Trojans beware, within some Mischief lyes; Be what it will, Greeks bringing Gifts I fear.”
John Ogilby (1600–1676) said by 1676 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In all parts cruel Grief, in all parts Fear, And Death in various Shapes seen every where.”
John Ogilby (1600–1676) said by 1676 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear speaks degenerate minds.”
John Ogilby (1600–1676) said by 1676 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fame far out-strips all Mischiefs in her course, Which grows by Motion, gains, by flying, Force; Kept under first by Fear, soon after shrouds, Stalking or Earth, her Head amongst the Clouds.”
John Ogilby (1600–1676) said by 1676 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I suppose being right will have to compensate me for being poor—the story of my life, I fear.”
Guy Gavriel Kay (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In April, the president won a narrow referendum victory — amid allegations of serious fraud — to form an “executive presidency” without checks and balances, enabling him to control all three branches of the government. To be sure, through purges and corruption, much of this power was already in his hands. I fear for the Turkish people as they enter this new stage of authoritarianism.”
Fethullah Gülen (1941–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most important pillar of any effort to address a solution is to remember and internalize our shared identity as humans. The cure for the disease of people driven by fear and hatred, who attack those they perceive as different, lies in establishing a global understanding of the value of all people through dialogue and education.”
Fethullah Gülen (1941–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“During those years color seemed too sweet a medium to express the anger, disgust and fear that apartheid inspired, ...”
David Goldblatt (1930–2018) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In an interview, c. 2005, with photo historian Mark Haworth-Booth, as quoted in "The Camera Is Not a Machine Gun", Fred Ritchin, 1998
“[Even if established procedures exist for replacing leaders,] they are relatively harmless to the entrenched leaders (because functionless) so long as the ranks fear the consequences of using them”
Philip Selznick (1919–2012) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 52; As cited in: Howard E. Aldrich (2008), Organizations and Environments. p. 209
“We worked furiously (to realise our goals). Because we didn't have fear, we could do something drastic.”
Masaru Ibuka (1908–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Masaru Ibuka cited in: Ashley Goldsworthy (2009), Leadership in Action. p. 52
“For several years we have witnessed climatic irregularities that prompt fear and anxiety about the conditions of our future existence. However, the climatic anomalies occurred also in the past when the blame for environmental destruction could hardly be put on humans.”
Marek Żukow-Karczewski (born 1961) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Weather anomalies in Poland's past, "Aura" 7, 1990-07, p. 6-8.
“The Social Democratic movement need have no fear in regard to the political activity of Trotsky. On the contrary, he is more likely to give the death blow to the Communist movement outside Russia and to induce the Communist workers to return to Social Democracy than to strengthen any Communist Party or to weaken the Social Democrats in any way.”
Fyodor Dan (1871–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Diabetes and high sugar levels kill up to 3.5 million people annually, while air pollution kills about 7 million people. So why do we fear terrorism more than sugar, and why do governments lose elections because of sporadic terror attacks but not because of chronic air pollution?”
Yuval Noah Harari (born 1976) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One ground for suspicion of apparently sincere moral convictions is their link with some special interest of those who hold them. The questions cui bono and cui malo are appropriate questions to raise when we are searching for possible contaminants of conscience. Entrenched privilege, and fear of losing it, distorts one's moral sense.”
Annette Baier (1929–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When public spending in the form of transfer payments makes various services and benefits free of charge, work is discouraged. Yet it is precisely Social Security that legislators fear to cut”
Edmund Phelps (1933–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If failure or disgrace arrives, if one suddenly finds that the faces of men show coldness or contempt instead of the kindliness and deference that he is used to, he will perceive from the shock, the fear, the sense of being outcast and helpless, that he was living in the minds of others without knowing it, just as we daily walk the solid ground without thinking how it bears us up.”
Charles Cooley (1864–1929) said by 1929 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Her shoulders sagging, her back hunched, her eyelids tired, Rose-Anna sewed for the feast, not daring even to sing for fear of frightening off her joy.”
Gabrielle Roy (1909–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Running anywhere, blindly, hating the echo of her footsteps in the silence of the empty streets, Florentine fled from her own fear, fled from herself.”
Gabrielle Roy (1909–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing is ever what you want it to be. The harder you grab for it, the more deeply it cuts. And it mocks you for being foolish enough to reach for it at all. You come to fear touching anything at all, because you know that if you do, it will become terrible.”
M. K. Hobson (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He could hear Pa’s voice saying, “A man’s religion, his sect, is his own affair. But those people have no religion or sect. They’re a mob, with a mob’s fear and cruelty, and with half-crazy, cunning men stirring them up against others.”
Leigh Brackett (1915–1978) said by 1978 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Under the attentiveness was fear, and something else. Anger, hate—the instinctive rejection of an intolerable truth.”
Leigh Brackett (1915–1978) said by 1978 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The voice of the intelligence is soft and weak, said Freud. It is drowned out by the roar of fear. It is ignored by the voice of desire. It is contradicted by the voice of shame. It is hissed away by hate, and extinguished by anger. Most of all it is silenced by ignorance.”
Karl Menninger (1893–1990) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Progressive (October 1955)
“When once you have plunged into the strife for power, it is the fear of those who are seeking for power over you that so easily persuades to all the great crimes.”
Auberon Herbert (1838–1906) said by 1906 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who shall count up the evil brood that is born from power - the pitiful fear, the madness, the despair, the overpowering craving for revenge, the treachery, the unmeasured cruelty?”
Auberon Herbert (1838–1906) said by 1906 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Coward dread lacks order, fear wants art, Deaf to attend, commanded or desired.”
Edward Fairfax (1580–1635) said by 1635 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The weak fear happiness itself. They can harm themselves on cotton wool. Sometimes they are wounded even by happiness.”
Osamu Dazai (1909–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't think It's an exaggeration to say that It was the one and only time in my life that I refused something offered to me. My unhappiness was the unhappiness of a person who could not say no. I had been intimidated by the fear that if I declined something offered me, a yawning crevice would open between the other person's heart and myself which could never be mended through all eternity.”
Osamu Dazai (1909–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Shame on me for making such a mockery of myself. Blame it on my wounded pride. The fact is that my fear of being ridiculed is so intense I'd rather beat my critics to the punch. That's the epitome of cowardice.”
Osamu Dazai (1909–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have a two-year-old who just turned three, and my four-year-old just turned five. I have the same irrational feelings taking them to pre-school. It's this charged combination of stress and joy and anxiety and excitement. When they're away, you've got a sudden loss of purpose and this ever-present fear about the kid's welfare. The departure of our children from our nest is not an easy thing.”
Vera Farmiga (born 1973) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Q&A: Bates Motel's Vera Farmiga on the Terrors of Parenthood" by Eric Spitznagel at Esquire (February 1, 2014)
“Finally, she mused that human existence is as brief as the life of autumn grass, so what was there to fear from taking chances with your life?”
“Where there's life, death is inevitable. Dying's easy; it's living that's hard. The harder it gets, the stronger the will to live. And the greater the fear of death, the greater the struggle to keep on living.”
“How I suffered when I had to preach to you those pious lies that I detest in my heart. What remorse your credulity caused me! A thousand times I was on the point of breaking out publicly and opening your eyes, but a fear stronger than myself held me back, and forced me to keep silence until my death.”
Jean Meslier (1664–1729) said by 1729 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Preface to Mon Testament, quoted by Voltaire in a letter to the Comte d'Argental, February 1762; trans. Margaret Knight, Humanist Anthology: From Confucius to Bertrand Russell (London: Barrie & Rockliff, 1961), p. 28
“No man need fear that we shall attack his religion, but we may help him to understand it better than he did before There is nothing in Theosophy which is many way in opposition to true primitive Christianity, though it may not always be possible to agree with the interpretations put upon that truth by modern dogmatic theology, which is quite another matter.”
Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934) said by 1934 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are.”
Frances Moore Lappé (born 1944) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: O Magazine, May 2004
“Death is not a word to fear, any more than birth is. We change our state at birth, and come into the world of air and sense and myriad existence; we change our state at death and enter a region of—what?”
Oliver Lodge (1851–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I considered that life was sweet in all living creatures, and the taking it away became a very tender point with me. The creatures, or many of them, were given, or as I take it, rather lent us to be governed in the great Creator's fear.”
Joshua Evans (Quaker minister) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As a child I was helpless and filled with trust, but now I am fortunately sick with fear and filled with distrust. Now I am sharp-sighted, but then I was stupid and blind goose, and I had to experience it over and over again.”
Timo K. Mukka (1944–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many vegetarians wonder whether it is right from a health perspective to eliminate meat from their children's diets, fearing that some substances in the carnivorous diet are essential for their growth. It's an understandable fear, but unfounded. (p. 23)”
Umberto Veronesi (1925–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[A woman] had gone to the house of a Bengali gentleman for a wedding invitation. As soon as they saw her [with a burqa], the boys and girls there would scream in fear and run away, not knowing who would.”
Begum Rokeya (1880–1932) said by 1932 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If only this fear would leave me I could dream of Crickley Hill And a hundred thousand thoughts of home would visit my heart in sleep; But here the peace is shattered all day by the devil's will, And the guns bark night-long to spoil the velvet silence deep.”
Ivor Gurney (1890–1937) said by 1937 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But we of the rich plain of sweet airs and pure, Oh! Death would take so much from us, how should we not fear?”
Ivor Gurney (1890–1937) said by 1937 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What the common man calls Evil, he once told me, is nothing more than the fear of one’s own potential.”
Michael Swanwick (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was classic cult behavior: the charismatic leader whose word was law, the unreasoning obedience, the pervasive fear.”
Michael Swanwick (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source