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Fear quotes to inspire bravery!
By Izzy Casey — Written on Sep 25, 2021
Fear is an emotion that everyone experiences. But just because everyone has fear doesn't mean they let it get in their way.
Fear quotes can empower you to be brave.
From your stage fright to your fear of public speaking, fear is so powerful because it can stop you from achieving your goals.
You can’t avoid fear, but you can handle fear and overcome it by taking a big risk.
Here are 75 inspirational fear quotes to help you overcome your greatest fears:
A famous quote about fear is “face your fears.” There are many other inspirational thoughts that can encourage you to take that essential leap of faith.
Thought-provoking quotes about fear:
1. "We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets." — Marilyn Monroe
2. "The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." — Nelson Mandela
3. "Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones." — Thich Nhat Hanh
4. “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 have 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
5. "Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." — Yoda
6. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
7. “People living deeply have no fear of death.”— Anais Nin
8. “Laughter is poison to fear.” — George R.R. Martin
9. “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” — Bertrand Russell
10. “Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.” — Helen Keller
11. “Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.”— Rudyard Kipling
12. “Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.” — James Stephens
13. “Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out.” — Karl Augustus Menninger
14. “You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.” — Eric Hoffer
15. “Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death.” — James F. Byrnes
16. “Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignorance.” — Arnold Glasow
17. “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
18. “Fear makes us feel our humanity.” — Benjamin Disraeli
19. “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” — Marcus Aurelius
20. “To overcome fear, here’s all you have to do: realize the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway.” — Peter McWilliams
21. “Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.” — Aristotle
22. “In time we hate that which we often fear.” — William Shakespeare
23. “Fear is the needle that pierces us that it may carry a thread to bind us to heaven.” — James Hastings
24. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” — Jack Canfield
25. “There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart's controls.” — Aeschylus
Inspirational quotes about fear:
26. “Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.” — Shirley Maclaine
27. “The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear.”— Gandhi
28. “The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.” — John C. Maxwell
29. “Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.” — Louis E. Boone
30. “There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.” — Andre Gide
31. “The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.” — Lady Bird Johnson
32. “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
33. “If you’re not willing to risk, you cannot grow. If you cannot grow, you cannot be your best. If you cannot be your best, you cannot be happy. If you cannot be happy, what else is there?” — Les Brown
34. “To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.” — Soren Kierkegaard
35. “Try a thing you haven’t done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not.” — Virgil Thomson
36. “Fear of self is the greatest of all terrors, the deepest of all dread, the commonest of all mistakes. From it grows failure. Because of it, life is a mockery. Out of it comes despair.”— David Seasbury
37. “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” — Plato
38. “Do one thing every day that scares you.”― Eleanor Roosevelt
39. “Bran thought about it. 'Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?' 'That is the only time a man can be brave,' his father told him.” ― George R.R. Martin
40. “There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” ― Jane Austen
41. “Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.” ― Salvador Dali
42. “Don't give in to your fears. If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart.” ― Paulo Coelho
43. “Don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you. They're there to let you know that something is worth it.” ― C. JoyBell C.
44. “Men go to far greater lengths to avoid what they fear than to obtain what they desire.” ― Dan Brown
45. “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. “― Frank Herbert
46. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” ― Paulo Coelho
47. “Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy.” — Yann Martel
48. “I have accepted fear as part of life – specifically the fear of change... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back....” ― Erica Jong
49. “Men go to far greater lengths to avoid what they fear than to obtain what they desire.” ― Dan Brown
50. “Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up.” ― Veronica Roth
Motivational quotes about overcoming fear:
51. "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game." — Babe Ruth
52. "No man is a failure who is enjoying life." — William Feather
53. "Do not be afraid to give up the good to go for the great." — John Rockefeller
54. "Fear is in the eye of the beholder." — Your Best Friend
55. "What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" — Vincent van Gogh
56. "When you are afraid, do the thing you are afraid of and soon you will lose your fear of it." — Norman Vincent Peale
57. "Where fear is, happiness is not." — Seneca
58. "You miss 100% of the shots you didn't take." — Wayne Gretzky
59. "Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out." — Benjamin Franklin
60. "Extreme fear can neither fight nor fly." — William Shakespeare
61. "One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do." — Henry Ford
62. "The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one." — Elbert Hubbard
63. "Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." — Francis Chan
64. "Failure doesn't mean you are a failure; it just means you haven't succeeded yet." — Robert H. Schuller
65. "Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street." — Zig Ziglar
66. "Feel the fear and do it anyway." — Susan Jeffers
67. "There are times where fear protects you. Anxiety is not the same thing as fear." — Your Good Friend
68. "The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist." — Steven Pressfield
69. "Thinking will not overcome fear but action will." — W. Clement Stone
70. "What you fear is what you must conquer." — Lailah Gifty Akita
71. "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." — Saint Thomas
72. "Don’t let fear or insecurity stop you from trying new things. Believe in yourself. Do what you love. And most importantly, be kind to others, even if you don’t like them." — Stacy London
73. "Overcoming what frightens you the most strengthens you the most." — Matshona Dhliwayo
74. "Critics are loud, but success is louder." ― Matshona Dhliwayo
75. "It’s OKAY to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave." ― Mandy Hale
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Izzy Casey is a writer who covers pop culture and entertainment.