Quotes about fear

Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.

As long as you are breathing you can always be more scared.

We brought a man back who should have died long ago. The present can't stand a man like that anymore. Now they want indecision and compromise and reluctance and fear.

The dynamics of the city. His mother had been scared of cities. It had been part of his education. She had told him cities are dangerous places. They're full of tough, scary guys. He was a tough boy himself but he had walked around as a teenager ready and willing to believe her. And he had seen that she was right. People on city streets were fearful and furtive and defensive. They kept their distance and crossed to the opposite sidewalk to avoid coming near him. They made it so obvious he became convinced the scary guys were always right behind him, at his shoulder. Then he suddenly realized no, I'm the scary guy. They're scared of me. It was a revelation. He saw himself reflected in store windows and understood how it could happen. He had stopped growing at fifteen when he was already six feet five and two hundred and twenty pounds. A giant. Like most teenagers in those days he was dressed like a bum. The caution his mother had drummed into him was showing up in his face as a blank-eyed, impassive stare. They're scared of me. It amused him and he smiled and then people stayed even farther away. From that point onward he knew cities were just the same as every other place, and for every city person he needed to be scared of there were nine hundred and ninety-nine others a lot more scared of him. He used the knowledge like a tactic, and the calm confidence it put in his walk and his gaze redoubled the effect he had on people. The dynamics of the city.

I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life.

“Oderint dum metuant,” O’Doull murmured….

“But it means, ‘let them hate, as long as they fear.’”

“Three words,” McDougald said admiringly. “Boy, that packs more into three words than anything this side of ‘I love you.’”

He truly did not seem to realize that terrorizing everyone who was not ardently on his side to begin with would ensure that he drew few new supporters.

But destroying white privilege only boosted white fear.

Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made.

Now the only sure basis of an alliance is for each party to be equally afraid of the other...

speculation is carried on in safety, but, when it comes to action, fear causes failure.

I am more afraid of our own blunders than of the enemy's devices.