Quotes About Fear

My first AIDS campaign was in 1985. There was this dark cloud, everybody was socially inspired - we hadn't seen social consciousness like that since the '60s - but most people were talking about hunger in Africa. Nobody was talking about this really ominous circumstance here in the U.S. because of this fear of stigma.

We live in a fear-based world where HIV stigma can prevail.

The biggest part of what Anita Hill did was take away the stigma of coming forward, and it took a lot for her to do that. We don't have these conversations, because of the fear that people won't believe you or you'll get attacked if you come forward. She came forward anyway and continued to tell her story.

I still get very scared when I step in front of a live audience.

I never eat in a restaurant that's over a hundred feet off the ground and won't stand still.

The ability to be frightening with stillness is what appeals to me.

I guess you could say I'm an addict - an adrenalin addict - I get great excitement and stimulation from doing stuff in public, even though I'm nervous and I have very bad stage fright.

My father was so very afraid. I felt it in the sting of his black leather belt, which he applied with more anxiety than anger, my father who beat me as if someone might steal me away, because that was exactly what was happening all around us.

There are a whole host of psychological phenomenon humans have developed to protect ourselves from the sting of failure, from holding ourselves less accountable for our failures than we do other people, to letting our fear paralyze us and keep us from even trying.

Fear will make you stingy.

Some people, no matter how robust their stock portfolios or how healthy their children, are always mentally preparing for doom. They are just born worriers, their brains forever anticipating the dropping of some dreaded other shoe.

People often panic when the markets go down and sell off their stocks - but then they aren't in the game when the markets are doing well.

I don't think about the gender of my readers or about reader expectations. I'm frankly scared to. I figured out a long time ago that if I tried to guess the audience, it would be like me trying to guess which stocks to buy.

In my early to mid-20s, a fear of confrontation made it difficult for me to end relationships in a mature or even quasi-sane way. Instead, I would hang on resentfully, praying that my doomed beau would end things first and spare me the displeasure. To add hindrance to hang-up, the men I chose were usually just as stoic as I was.

It's scary to me to watch the world around us get less and less physical while in the imaginary world of pop culture, aggressive impulses and fear reactions are floridly, furiously stoked and indulged.

I sleep on my stomach with my head under a bunch of pillows so if someone wants to come in and try to kill me they can't tell if I'm there or not, so they'll just leave.

I used to go to the stables and fool with the mules. My mother lived in constant fear that I might be brought home with a hoof print on my stomach.

My anxiety was probably at an all-time high before 'The Jump.' I look back at pictures and think: 'God, I'm really skinny there,' because when you're anxious you have that feeling in your stomach and don't feel like eating.

I always wanted to be an actor, but with a speech impediment it's kind of tough. I decided to roll the dice and take an acting class, which was very, very nerve-wracking... my stomach would just be in knots.

I have the most nervous stomach in the world.

If you've grown up with guns, the thought that someone might take them away makes your stomach churn. They make you feel safe. If you didn't grow up with guns, if you don't know how to use them, then the thought that someone else has them makes your stomach churn.

I hate flying. My stomach churns at the mere thought of it.

I do not watch horror films. At all. I am not a horror film girl; I don't have the stomach for it. I've seen a few in my lifetime, like 'The Shining' or 'Carrie,' but I can't sleep for, like, a week after I see something like that.

Why are we scared of a '50s weepie? Why are we scared of a movie that pulls you in and punches you in the stomach?