Fear Quotes

If we have plain old ordinary fear then we are within reach of a solution. Fear has been with humankind for millennia and we do know what to do about it--pray about it, talk about it, feel the fear, and do it anyway. Artistic fear, on the other hand, sounds somehow nastier and more virulent, like it just might not yield to ordinary solutions--and yet it does, the moment we become humble enough to try ordinary solutions.

~ Julia Cameron

He himself, he realized, had always been most abominably frightened, even at the height of his divine power, a frail god upon a rickety throne, afraid of opening letters, of making decisions, afraid of the instinctive knowledge in the eyes of mules, of the innocent eyes of good men, of the elastic nature of the passions, even of the devotion he had received from some men, and one woman, and dogs.

~ Patrick White

Something like panic struck at Hurlow. Moffat's calm confession of fear withdrew the prop upon which he had leaned. Down there, among the motionless shadows, lurked invisible things, things that were nameless, shapeless and malignant; things which could see without being seen. One of the long lost terrors of childhood returned to him, and like a child he put his hand into Moffat's.

~ A.m. Burrage

We shall convince France and the world, that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and a sense of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable instruments of foreign influence, and regardless of national honor, character, and interest.

~ John Adams

Senses disabled by fear.

~ Toba Beta

They think the government shows people everything —how to work, study, eat, sleep and that’s it. They are afraid of change. They do not understand that if you want to do something, you should do it. You are free, people, free!

~ Anton Krotov

The weekend break had begun with the usual resentment and had continued with half-repressed ill humour. It was, of course, his fault. He had been more ready to hurt his wife's feelings and deprive his daughter than inconvenience a pub bar full of strangers. He wished there could be one memory of his dead child which wasn't tainted with guilt and regret.

~ P.d. James

Often, the human animal dresses terror in rage, and expresses both in a way unlike either.

~ Julius Lester

I think locality exercises strange influence over some minds. The peaceful meadow-scenery holds no lurking horrors in its bosom, but in the lonesome moorlands, full of curiously molded boulders, grotesque fancies must assail one there. Creatures seem to come, odd and ill-defined as their surroundings. As a child I had a peculiar horror of those tall, odd-shaped boulders, with seeming faces, featureless, it is true, but sometimes strangely resembling humans and animals. I believe the spinney may be haunted by something of this nature, terrible as the trees. (The Haunted Spinney)

~ Elliott O'donnell

All in a moment Hurlow forgot the beauty of the sounds and smelt fear. He smelt it as an animal smells it, the breath cold in his nostrils. He had read about Pan, a dead god who might safely be patronized while poring over a book in a London lodging, but here and at this hour a god not to be scorned. (Furze Hollow)

~ A.m. Burrage

I am Indonesian. I don't buy fear of western ghosts.But when you deal with a giant garagasi of sumatera,there's no word worth enough to express the eeriness.

~ Toba Beta

If you’re not scared every day, you’re not pushing hard enough.

~ Richie Norton

You can't get rid of fear, you must learn to move through it.Know that deep in your soul, that fear is just a door to a room filled with something so big, so important, so life changing, that it scares you a little.

~ Eileen Anglin

Too much war, hatred and fear in the world.Desperately needed: More art, love and poetry.

~ Melody Lee

This goes to show you that sometimes the unseen is not to be feared and that those meant to love us most are not always ones who do.

~ Leigh Bardugo

Fear is the thing that makes the heart grow.

~ Charlotte Eriksson

Centre yourself. Fear will get you killed as easily as a weapon.

~ Sarah J. Maas

Overcome your problems as they arise. Do not live in fear of the next bad thing in your life. Enjoy your time now and trust that you have the strength to defeat every problem that comes your way in the future.

~ Avina Celeste

I tell myself I am brave and yet, I still fear change. I guess it’s time to face that fear.

~ Avina Celeste

A stink. A stench. A foulness in her mind, dreadful and unforgiving. A compost of horrible ideas and rotted thoughts that made her want to take our her brain and wash it.

~ Terry Pratchett

The problem with fear, though, is that it isn’t any one thing. Fear has a whole taxonomy—anxiety, dread, panic, foreboding—and you could be braced for one form and completely fall apart facing another.

~ Sebastian Junger

There is an evil creeping insideThe darkness has a firm hold on meThere is a desire burning withinAmbition seeks to replace the air I breatheThere is a voice, relentless voice in my headMy peace has abandoned meThere is nothing but lonelinessA hollow place I can't traceA void filled with nothing but space A sorrow with which no one can relateI'm just an innocent girl longing for tranquillityBut I'm fading awayFear has taken over me

~ Evy Michaels

My dear cousin has a very odd relationship with fear -- though mostly she's too busy to be bothered with it.

~ Jim Butcher

People have always looked to the horizon and feared that which they did not understand. Initially, this horizon was the edge of the forest. Then, when forests became better explored and their dangers were realized as not actually being that serious, human attention turned toward the darkness of the sea. Then the sea became better explored, and the new horizon became the vastness of space. And now, with space getting ever better explored, a new horizon appears. . . in the form of the horrors humanity is about to unleash on itself.

~ Matt Kaplan

Remember, son, you're most afraid when you can think of no one but yourself.

~ Donna Lynn Hess

No one conquers fear easily, Robert. It takes a brave heart to win great battles.

~ Peter Bunzl

Fear is really quite tedious. She wanted to be rid of it as soon as possible.

~ Jim Butcher

That's all that brave means - not thinking about the dangers. Just thinking about what you must do. Of course you were frightened. I was too, today. But you kept your mind on what you had to do.

~ Lois Lowry

Fear ain't respect—how could I have ever thought it was?

~ Peter Liney

The truth Fear tells is not much better than her lies.

~ George Macdonald

He fell into a solemn silence, which he only eventually broke to say, “I think I’ve become a terrible person. In fact, I’ve become a reptile. Do you know that reptiles are stupid because almost their entire brain capacity is used to feel fear?

~ Valeria Luiselli

Pay no attention to the terrors that visit you in the night. The psyche is at its lowest ebb then, unable to defend itself. The desolation that envelops you feels like truth, but isn't. It's just mental fatigue masquerading as insight.

~ Jeffrey Eugenides

You don't really love me, or you never would have treated me like you did. You were just afraid of letting me go. There’s a difference, and no one knows that better than I do. We were both afraid of moving on, me of what I really wanted. It brought us together, it bound us, but no longer. I am done with making decisions based on fear. [Nicholas to Grace]

~ Emily Colin

From time to time, we all must go unto a landscape—be it inner or outer landscape—where there are no hiding places. Allowing the stark awe and silence to aid us in both communing and confronting the depth of ourselves. We fear emptiness because we know that within those places of nothingness we will come face-to-face with who we are and gaze into the internal mirror. But what is the alternative? Shall we go our entire life without hearing our own voice . . . without ever having met who we are when isolated from all?

~ L.m. Browning

Yes, we live, or we're given the chance to, at least, but sometimes living is hard and complicated because of fear.

~ Adam Silvera

In a polished surface of metal I happen to notice my reflected face; it wears a pale, beaten lonely look, eyes looking out at nothing with an expression of fear, frightened and lonely in a nightmare world. Something, I don’t know what, makes me think of my childhood; I remember myself as a schoolchild sitting at a hard wooden desk, and then as a little girl with thick, fair, wind-tossed hair, feeding the swans in a park. And it seems both strange and sad to me that all those childish years were spent in preparation for this – that, forgotten by everybody, with a beaten face, I should serve machinery in a place far away from the sun.

~ Anna Kavan

A life that chooses not to grow is a life that died long before it ever lived.

~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

If you're scared, do something.

~ Elizabeth Wein

To spin the tale with great flourish but never live the tale is the power of vision strangled to fiction by the fiction of fear.

~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

It’s natural to avoid the things we fear. Seeking out what terrifies me seems insane on a certain level, but more and more, the longer I’m alive, I find myself drawn to my most intense feelings, both good and bad. It seems that they are screaming out to me for a reason and that I have to know what they’re trying to say.

~ Page Turner