Fears and Courage

“Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it?” -Caroline Myss (born 1952)
 
“If you’re scared, just holler and you’ll find it ain’t so lonesome out there.” -Joe Sugden (Joseph ‘Joe’ Sugden (1870 - 1959))
 
“I have lived my life according to this principle: If I’m afraid of it, then I must do it.” -Erica Jong (Erica Mann Jong (born 1942))

“Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.” -Alice M. Swaim (Alice Mackenzie Swaim)
 
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” -Les Brown (Leslie Calvin ‘Les’ Brown (born 1945))
 
“Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.” -Dorothy Thompson (1894 - 1961)
 
“Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.” -Brendan Francis (Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (1923 - 1964))
 
“Action cancels fear.” -Silver Rose
 
“We learn courageous action by going forward whenever fear urges us back. A little boy was asked how he learned to skate. ‘Oh, by getting up every time I fell down,’ he answered.” -David Seabury (1885 - 1960)
 
Reality of Fear
 
You’re not scared of the dark;
     You’re scared of what’s in it.
You’re not afraid of heights;
     You’re afraid of falling.
You’re not afraid of the people around you;
     You’re afraid of rejection or mistreatment.
You’re not afraid of love;
     You’re afraid of not being lovable.
 
by Author Unknown
 
“To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that.” -Teresa of Ávila (Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada (1515 - 1582))
 
“When you are afraid, do the thing you are afraid of, and soon you will lose your fear of it.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)
 
Fear is a slinking cat I find
     Beneath the lilacs of my mind.
-Sophie Tunnell (Sophia Letitia Tunnell (1884 - 1936))
 
“It takes courage to lead a life. Any life.” -Erica Jong (Erica Mann Jong (born 1942))

“Fear is incomplete knowledge.” -Agatha Christie (Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (1890 - 1976))
 
“A lot of people are afraid of heights; not me, I’m afraid of widths.” -Steven Wright (Steven Alexander Wright (born 1955)): “Steven Wright Special” (1985)
 
Heights Made Him Dizzy
 
There was a young fellow so frail
He could fly on a kite - as the tail.
     That gave him a view
     From Maine to Peru;
But when he looked down he turned pale!
 
by John Ciardi (John Anthony Ciardi (1916 - 1986))
 
“You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.” -Dolly Parton (Dolly Rebecca Parton (born 1946))
 
“Fears are educated into us and can, if we wish, be educated out.” -Karl A. Menninger (Karl Augustus Menninger (1893 - 1990))
 
“We have to start teaching ourselves not to be afraid.” -Will Faulkner (William Cuthbert ‘Will’ Faulkner (1897 - 1962))
 
“Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway.” -John Wayne (pseudonym of Marion Michael Morrison (1907 - 1979))
 
“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” -Author Unknown
 
“Fear is an emotion indispensable for survival.” -Hannah Arendt (Johanna ‘Hannah’ Arendt (1906 - 1975))
 
A psychologist, interviewed on the Steve Allen Show, announced that the only two instinctive fears in man are a fear of loud noises and a fear of falling. “I have a great fear,” replied Steve Allen (Stephen Valentine Patrick William ‘Steve’ Allen (1921 - 2000)), without missing a beat, “of making a loud noise while falling.”
 
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” -Mary Anne Radmacher
 
“Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile . . . initially scared me to death.” -Betty Bender (born 1948)
 
“Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed.” -Michael Pritchard
 
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” -Vincent van Gogh (Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890))
 
“If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.” -Seth Godin (born 1960)
 
“FEAR is an acronym in the English language for ‘False Evidence Appearing Real.’” -Neale Donald Walsch (born 1943)
 
“F.E.A.R. has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Risk.’ You decide.” -Author Unknown
 
“Do what you fear and fear disappears.” -David J. Schwartz (David Joseph Schwartz, Junior (1927 - 1987))
 
Overheard: I have discovered that I scream the same way whether I am about to be devoured by a great white shark or a piece of seaweed touches my foot.
 
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” -Marie Curie (Marie Sklodowska-Curie (1867 - 1934))

“Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is small.” -Ruth Gendler (Janet Ruth Gendler, also known as J. Ruth Gendler (born 1954)) at www.ruthgendler.com
 
“The thing I fear most is fear.” -Michel de Montaigne (Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 - 1592)): “Essais” (“Essays”) (1595), Book 1, chapter 18
 
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” -Theodore Roosevelt (Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt (1858 - 1919))
 
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” -Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)
 
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself . . . and spiders!
 
“You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnegey (1888 - 1955)))
 
“If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.” -Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, also known as Seneca the Younger (3 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))
 
“Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
 
“Happiness is a form of courage.” -Holbrook Jackson (George ‘Holbrook’ Jackson (1874 - 1948))
 
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” -Anaïs Nin (born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (1903 - 1977)): “Diary” (1969)
 
Luposlipaphobia is a persistent fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a newly-waxed floor. This is actually a fictional phobia created by Gary Larson (born 1950), found in his “Far Side” comics.
 
“Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.” -Author Unknown: German proverb
 
“I laugh in the face of danger. And then I hide until it goes away.” -Author Unknown: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997 - 2003), season 1, episode 3: ‘Witch’ (17 March 1997); line spoken by fictional character Alexander Lavelle ‘Xander’ Harris (portrayed by actor Nicholas Brandon)
 
“Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” -Dorothy Bernard (Nora Dorothy ‘Dorothy’ Bernard (1890 - 1955))
 
“Fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.” -Shirley MacLaine (pseudonym of Shirley MacLean Beaty (born 1934))
 
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” -Ambrose Redmoon (Ambrose Hollingworth Redmoon (pseudonym of James Neil Hollingworth (1933 - 1996)))
 
“What you are afraid to do is a clear indicator of the next thing you need to do.” -Author Unknown
 
“To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.” -Katherine Paterson (Katherine Womeldorf Paterson (born 1932)): “Jacob Have I Loved” (1980)
 
“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.” -Winston Churchill (Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874 - 1965)): “Great Contemporaries” (1937)
 
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” -Author Unknown: “The Bible,” ‘Book of Psalms,’ Psalm 27, verse 1
 
“The phrase ‘do not be afraid’ is written in the Bible 365 times. That’s a daily reminder from God to live every day being fearless.” -Author Unknown
 
“I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me.” -Erica Jong (Erica Mann Jong (born 1942))
 
“Fear is nature’s warning signal to get busy.” -Henry C. Link (Henry Charles Link (1889 - 1952))
 
“When you do what you fear most, then you can do anything.” -Stephen Richards
 
“The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.” -Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906): “An Enemy of the People” (1882), act 5
 
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. Except a creature be part coward, it is not a compliment to say it is brave.” -Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910)): “Pudd’nhead Wilson” (1894), chapter 12
 
“Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnegey (1888 - 1955)))
 
“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” -Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894)
 
“Courage grows by daring, fear by holding back.” -Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.)
 
“You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.” -Mary Tyler Moore (1937 - 2017)
 
“Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.” -John Dewey (1859 - 1952)
 
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along’ . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” -Eleanor Roosevelt (Anna Eleanor ‘Eleanor’ Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)): “You Learn by Living” (1960)
 
“To one who is afraid, everything rustles.” -Sophocles (496 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)
 
“Courage from hearts, and not from numbers, grows.” -John Dryden (1631 - 1700): “Annus Mirabilis” (1667), stanza 76, line 304; type of work: poem
 
“Fears are nothing more than states of mind.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))
 
“We must travel in the direction of our fear.” -John Berryman (1914 - 1972)
 
“You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.” -Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983): as quoted in W. H. Auden and Louis Kronenberger, editors: “The Faber Book of Aphorisms” (1962)
 
“Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it’s strengthened by use.” -Ruth Gordon (Ruth Gordon Jones (1896 - 1985))
 
“Be brave. Even if you’re not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.” -H. Jackson Brown (Harriett Jackson Brown, Junior (born 1940)): “Life’s Little Instruction Book” (1991)
 
“How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.” -Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910)
 
“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” -Tim Ferriss (Timothy ‘Tim’ Ferriss (born 1977))
 
“Give yourself a pat on the back each time you hang in there when you’re scared.” -Marilyn Barrick (Marilyn Cooper Barrick (1932 - 2007))
 
“Stop letting fear rule your life.” -Author Unknown
 
14 October of every year is National Face Your Fears Day.
 
“You do not have to be fearless, just don’t let fear stop you.” -Charles Day (Charles Peckham Day (born 1976)): speech (May 2014) to graduating class of Merrimack College, North Andover, Massachusetts, United States of America
 
“Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it . . . that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnegey (1888 - 1955)))
 
“We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.” -Livy (Titus Livius (59 B.C.E. - C.E. 17.))
 
“If you do not do the thing you fear, the fear controls your life.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)
 
Overheard: Don’t let your fears win.
 
“Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another.” -C. C. Colton (Charles Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832))
 
“There is no courage without fear.” -Author Unknown
 
“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” -Bethany Hamilton (Bethany Meilani Hamilton-Dirks (born 1990))
 
“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnegey (1888 - 1955)))
 
“The only known cure for fear is faith.” -Lena Kellogg Sadler (1875 - 1939)
 
“Tell a man he is brave, and you help him to become so.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)
 
“We cannot escape fear. We can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures.” -Susan Jeffers (Susan Jane Jeffers (1938 - 2012)): “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” (1987)
 
“Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.” -Marilyn Ferguson
 
Fear not, intrepid soul, for there is no shortage of humor, inspiration, and learning, right here on MFOL! . . . just courageously continue reading . . .