Quotes About Fear

Guilt resembles a sword with two edges. On the one hand, it cuts for Justice, imposing practical morality upon those who fear it. But there is another side to that weighted emotion. Conscience does not always adhere to rational judgment. Guilt is always a self-imposed burden, but it is not always rightly imposed.

I wouldn't mind dying — it's the business of having to stay dead that scares the shit out of me.

Uncertainty and mystery are energies of life. Don't let them scare you unduly, for they keep boredom at bay and spark creativity.

the more you fight the uncomfortable sensations directly, the stronger they seem to grow. The more you run from panic, the faster it seems to chase you. The more you avoid panic-provoking situations, the more panic controls your life. If we place ourselves on guard, waiting and watching for the next signs of trouble, we are inviting panic to return sooner. How? By establishing a special relationship with panic, a relationship of opposites.

When a person suffers from anxiety attacks, one of the greatest obstacles to recovery can be the fear that these attacks are the indication of a major physical illness—and in rare cases that is true. But most often, when a person continually worries about physical illness, that kind of worry intensifies or even produces panic attacks. In other words, the less you worry, the healthier you will become.

If you remain fearfully convinced that you have a physical ailment, even when there is a consensus to the contrary among the professionals who have evaluated you, then you can be certain of one thing: your fear is directly contributing to your panic episodes.

By making the decision to accept the possibility of a negative outcome, you circumvent the requirement for absolute certainty of your future comfort and safety.

I'll become stronger by purposely facing what I am afraid of. It's OK that I'm anxious right now. I can handle these sensations. I can handle this uncertainty. I want this anxiety. I want this uncertainty. Love the mat. Run toward the roar.

When you hear yourself say, "I'm dizzy; I could faint!" say something like, "That's a good, anxiety-provoking thought. I want that thought, too." Don't do anything with the thought. Don't embellish it or encourage it. Don't talk yourself out of it. Notice it and accept it as an expected fearful thought in such a situation. Then wait for the next threatening thought or feeling.

As soon as you declare it a test, your body is going to secrete adrenaline, because you will be saying to yourself, "Uh-oh. I'd better do well," while you simultaneously imagine yourself failing. That process will cause you to feel anxious. The more you set up future events as tests, the more you are going to feel anxious.

I rememeber asking a wise man, once . . . 'Why do Men fear the dark?' . . . 'Because darkness' he told me, 'is ignorance made visible.' 'And do Men despise ignorance?' I asked. 'No,' he said, 'they prize it above all things--all things!--but only so long as it remains invisible.

Darkness shields as much as it threatens.

Fear of scholasticism is the mark of a false prophet. —KARL BARTH

We are always afraid of the unknown.

When a nation starts to hug its own particularities to itself it is showing fear and it will soon cease having any characteristics worth saving.

But how did you convince people to come out of hiding when hiding was all they had known?

Padauža išsyk atkreip? ginkl? ? mane. Vargšelis visas tirt?jo, prakaitas liejosi kaip iš kibiro, tod?l labai jau išmintingai nutariau, kad pistoletas neužtaisytas ir man tik reikia j? atimti. Pirmoji kulka pataik? ? pilv? ir ištašk? ? skutus vis? mano teorij?.

Slaves are governed by the fear of man, and, whenever the fear of man replaces the fear of God in a society, slavery reappears and increases.

It takes a surprising amount of courage to place one's hand into an unseen area when your mind is thinking about vermin.

I always just wanted to be funny. I never really planned to be scary.

Most fears are basic: fear of the dark, fear of going down in the basement, fear of weird sounds, fear that somebody is waiting for you in your closet. Those kinds of things stay with you no matter what age.

I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self. MARTIN LUTHER (1483–1546)

One reason we desire explanations is that they separate us and make us feel safe.

Throughout our marriage, we would go for weeks without exchanging more than perfunctory communications, sharing little but the bewildered quiet. And you think that I am lonely now? Heavens. I wish I'd listened to Chekhov, or had read him then: "If you are afraid of loneliness, don't marry.