Quotes About Fear

Only the unknown frightens men. But once a man has faced the unknown, that terror becomes the known.

Once men are caught up in an event, they cease to be afraid. Only the unknown frightens men.

don't think I wanted so much to be married as I was trying to wipe out the anxiety I was feeling about our inevitable drifting apart.

A relationship needs its games. If there is no sense of play, there is only desperation, the fear of being alone.

If you are afraid of loneliness, don't marry.

The thirst for powerful sensations takes the upper hand both over fear and over compassion for the grief of others.

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!

All of life and human relations have become so incomprehensibly complex that, when you think about it, it becomes terrifying and your heart stands still.

If you are afraid of loneliness, do not marry.

Death is terrible, but still more terrible is the feeling that you might live for ever and never die.

But perhaps the universe is suspended on the tooth of some monster.

He who desires nothing, hopes for nothing, and is afraid of nothing, cannot be an artist.

A modern definition of terrorism: 'the weapon of the weak, pretending to be strong'.

According to existential psychotherapist Irvin Yalom: 'Death … itches all the time; it is always with us, scratching at some inner door, whirring softly, barely audibly, just under the membrane of consciousness. Hidden and disguised, leaking out in a variety of symptoms, it is the wellspring of many of our worries, stresses, and conflicts'.

Could we react as Seneca tried to do? 'I force my mind to pay attention to itself and not to be distracted by anything external. It does not matter what is making a noise outside, so long as there is no turmoil inside – as long as there is no wrangling between desire and fear, as long as greed is not at odds with self-indulgence, one carping at the other. … Only as the mind develops into excellence do we achieve any real tranquillity.

Knowledge of precepts and understanding appropriate action can help us to live ethically. But even more important is cultivating what could be called 'calm emotions'. For the Stoics, these were joy, wishing and caution. These are supposed to be a rational alternative to ordinary kinds of emotions: joy replaces pleasure, wishing replaces desire and caution replaces fear.

Where does someone go when he dies?', 'When does fear end?', 'Where are all the single socks that disappeared in the washing machine?

He looked at the gun. "Aren't you afraid?" "Of course I am," Anna said. "Of course I'm afraid. But that doesn't help." He shook his head. "No," he said, "it doesn't help to be afraid. Bad things happen anyway. You're right.

Alle Menschen verschwanden. Das Ding, das sie jagte, war vielleicht nur das Leben selbst.

I am stigmatized by a living death in which real death holds no terrors for me.

I used to be scared of women. When I was very young they terrified me, but discovering the female universe was incredible and still is to this day, as you never stop learning about them.

There remained the fear of dreams, which are incontrollable.

In the end it had all been too simple, too easy. But I feared my good fortune.

Sólo esta carne, que se refugia en la noche recelando para pensar en el cubil del sueño: "me alegraré mañana", y se consuela; sólo esta amarga carne debería morir