Maxime is the founder and chief editor of WisdomQuotes. He has been writing, journaling and collecting quotes since 2004. He's also into personal development and productivity. Most of all, he's dedicated to help you live a simpler, better and more peaceful life. Learn more about him on his about page.
Here are 121 of the best fear quotes I could find. And my goal is simple: to inspire you and make you more courageous. Enjoy!
Courage is knowing what not to fear. Plato
Your mission: Be so busy loving your life that you have no time for hate, regret or fear. Karen Salmansohn
Do not be afraid; our fate cannot be taken from us; it is a gift. Dante Alighieri
Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. Suzy Kassem
Do one thing every day that scares you. Eleanor Roosevelt

Without darkness nothing comes to birth, as without light nothing flowers. May Sarton
Find out what you’re afraid of and go live there. Chuck Palahniuk
Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom. Marilyn Ferguson
Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live. Dorothy Thompson
He who has overcome his fears will truly be free. Aristotle

Your mind is small, but your heart is big. Your mind is afraid but your heart is full of love. Maxime Lagacé
What the mind doesn’t understand, it worships or fears. Alice Walker
Fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind. Dale Carnegie
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
If you want to cure the world, don’t emanate fear, emanate love. Ram Dass
Related: hope, confidence, worry, failure, pain
The Best Fear Quotes
The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Swami Vivekananda
Fools reject reality and expect things to be different. The wise accept reality and expect the unexpected. Maxime Lagacé
Fear, hatred, and suspicion narrow your mind – compassion opens it. Dalai Lama
Cease to hope and you will cease to fear. Hecato
A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears. Michel de Montaigne
I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest. John Keats
Fear is temporary. Regret is forever. Unknown
They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn. Seneca
We suffer more in imagination than in reality. Seneca
Being scared is part of being alive. Accept it. Walk through it. Robin Sharma
The fears we don’t face becomes our limits. Robin Sharma
Everything you want is on the other side of fear. Jack Canfield
Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is small. Ruth Gendler
Your fears are a kind of prison that confines you within a limited range of action. The less you fear, the more power you will have and the more fully you will live. Robert Greene
Observe yourself. See how you push away unpleasant thoughts, delay important decisions, postpone difficult conversations and avoid hard tasks. Observe how you avoid discomfort and take refuge in comforting distractions. Self observation is the beginning of self transformation. @TheAncientSage
If I had just a little bit of wisdom I should walk the great path and fear only straying from it. Lao Tzu
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. Marcus Aurelius
There can be no initiative if one has fear, and fear compels us to cling to tradition, gurus, etc. Bruce Lee
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter. D. L. Moody
For life to be really fun, what you fear should line up with what you desire. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
What you are afraid to do is a clear indication of the next thing you need to do. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. Ambrose Redmoon
What Is Fear?
Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth. Pema Chödrön Click to tweet
Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil. Aristotle
FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real.
Fear itself is a creation of your mind. It does not exist independently. Since it is a fabrication, you don’t have to fight it. Just understand it. Understanding is the key to freedom. @TheAncientSage
Fear is the enemy of logic. Frank Sinatra
Fear is a friend of exceptional people. Cus D’Amato Click to tweet
Part 2. Fear Quotes That Are…
The Most Famous Fear Quotes
Searching for a famous fear quote? Check out those by Seneca, Emerson, Einstein, Gandhi, etc.
Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. John D. Rockefeller
Instead of harboring fear and suspicion we need to think of other people not as ‘them’ but ‘us’. Dalai Lama
Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. Babe Ruth
If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. Albert Einstein
Now’s not the time for fear. That comes later. Bane (Batman)
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. Mark Twain
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. Bruce Lee
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Want to get the Wisdom Quotes collection?
You can buy it today by clicking below.
Limits, like fear, is often an illusion. Michael Jordan
Thinking will not overcome fear but action will. W. Clement Stone
Extreme fear can neither fight nor fly. William Shakespeare
Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful. Mary Shelley (Frankenstein)
Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear. Martin Luther King Jr
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. Nelson Mandela
Do that which you fear to do and the fear will die. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better. Stephen King
A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I’m afraid of widths. Steven Wright Click to tweet
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. John F. Kennedy
I steer my bark with hope in the head, leaving fear astern. My hopes indeed sometimes fail, but not oftener than the forebodings of the gloomy. Thomas Jefferson
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt
You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen. Michelle Obama
I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion. Alexander the Great
It is weakness which breeds fear, and fear breeds distrust. Mahatma Gandhi
Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others. Robert Louis Stevenson
Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it. Salvador Dali
Short Fear Quotes
One-liners, short fear quotes, thoughts, sayings and captions for your bio, social status, self-talk, motto, mantra, signs, posters, wallpapers, backgrounds.
Become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid. Lady Bird Johnson Click to tweet
Move towards what scares you. Tom Bilyeu
Fear is serious. Love is playful. Maxime Lagacé
Being scared is fine. Not taking action is not. Maxime Lagacé
There is no illusion greater than fear. Lao Tzu
Some things are in our control and others not. Epictetus
There is no truth in a fear-based culture. Tyler Winklevoss (twitter.com)
A fighter has to know fear. Cus D’Amato
Fear is a mile high, a mile wide, and paper thin. Unknown
Fear does not stop death. It stops life. Vi Keeland
I’m intimidated by the fear of being average. Taylor Swift
Fear is only as deep as the mind allows. Japanese proverb
Do what you fear and fear disappears. David Joseph Schwartz
Don’t let your heart be colonized by fear. Jack Kornfield
Of all the hazards, fear is the worst. Sam Snead (Professional golfer)
Fear kills growth. Gary Vaynerchuk
Always do what you’re afraid to do. E. Lockhart Click to tweet
Laughter is poison to fear. George R.R. Martin (Game Of Thrones)
Fear cuts deeper than swords. George R.R. Martin
Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing. Emma Donoghue
How very little can be done under the spirit of fear. Florence Nightingale
Want to become more peaceful?
It's simple: Get our daily quotes by email today!
Inspirational Fear Quotes
Only when we accept fear will we have freedom. Shane Parrish
Choose hard, not easy. Choose creating, not consuming. Choose focus, not distractions. Choose love, not fear. Maxime Lagacé
The only thing you care about when you’re afraid is results. The only thing you care about when you’re calm is doing the right thing. Maxime Lagacé
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. Dale Carnegie
Action eliminates fear. Headphone up and get shit done. Tom Bilyeu (Related quote topic: motivation)
Your choices define you. Don’t let fear be your definition. Tom Bilyeu
Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear. Tony Robbins
You become wealthy when you stop trying to look rich. You become educated when you stop trying to look smart. You become calm when you stop trying to avoid fear. Maxime Lagacé
Run from what’s comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I’ll be mad. Rumi
Danger is very real. But fear is a choice. Will Smith
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. Frank Herbert
You gotta act. And you’ve gotta be willing to fail, you gotta be ready to crash and burn, with people on the phone, with starting a company, with whatever. If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far. Steve Jobs
Feel the fear and do it anyway. Susan Jeffers
Face your fears, pursue your ambitions, and become the hero you are destined to be. Josh Kaufman
Two elements must therefore be rooted out once for all, – the fear of future suffering, and the recollection of past suffering; since the latter no longer concerns me, and the former concerns me not yet. Seneca
My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it… but love it. Friedrich Nietzsche (More about “amor fati” or “love of fate” in this YouTube video)
The beautiful thing about fear is, when you run to it, it runs away. Robin Sharma
Being aware of your fear is smart. Overcoming it is the mark of a successful person. Seth Godin
It’s not a terrible thing that we feel fear when faced with the unknown. It is part of being alive, something we all share. Pema Chödrön
Fear is your friend. It is an indicator. Sometimes it shows you what you shouldn’t do, more often than not it shows you what you should do. Tim Ferriss
Sometimes, what we fear the most is what we most need to do. Tim Ferriss
Run after your fears. Chase them. Make them shake. And dread the day you gained enough confidence to realize they were full of shit. Thibaut
All the power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Swami Vivekananda Click to tweet
It’s believing in our dreams and facing our fears head on that allows us to live our lives beyond limits. Amy Purdy
There is nothing worth doing that is not scary. There is no one who has achieved greatness without wrestling with their own doubts, anxieties, limitations, and demons. Ryan Holiday
Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive – the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Don Miguel Ruiz
Your largest fear carries your greatest growth. Unknown
Don’t give in to your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart. Paulo Coelho
If you’re are paralyzed with fear it’s a good sign. It shows you what you have to do. Steven Pressfield
The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity. Seneca
Related: positive, stoic, success
Part 3. Conclusion
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Marianne Williamson Click to tweet
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. Bene Gesserit
Call to action: Read Fear is the Root of Your Problems (zenhabits.net)
or 100 Mental Health Quotes To Comfort, Encourage, Inspire (wisdomquotes.com)
Hope you enjoyed these fear quotes and that you’ll eventually take more calculated risks.
After all, once you understand yourself and fear better, you’ll certainly find all the courage you need to succeed.
Now, if you did like the quotes, please share them with a friend today!
What was your favorite quote? Please let us know in the comment section below!
Table Of Contents
Part 1
Top 15 Images
Best Quotes
What Is Fear?
Part 2
Fear Quotes That ARE
Famous
Short
Inspirational
Part 3
Conclusion
Great site Maxime. I was also searching for an observation or saying that came to my mind, assuming that it had already been attributed to someone. I think of “fear” from a very broad sense – not just the internal fear associated with an individual action or inaction, but also the external fear of the inevitable that can’t be controlled. In short, if you fear and focus too much on the inevitable tomorrow, you will not absorb life today. I’m still be very surprised that this very simple saying that covers the broad nature of fear hasn’t already been quoted. Here is my observation:
“If you live your life in fear, life will pass you by”
Hi Dale,
thanks for your comment.
I’ve searched for the quote you’re referring to but the closest I’ve got is this one from Tecumseh:
“Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.”
I came on here to check if anyone had said this before me, so I guess I am it’s author.
Fear is the enemy. Humanity is the answer.
That’s a beautiful one, thanks Paula for sharing it with us!
I believe “humanity” is the broadest sense is the answer too.
Regards,
Maxime
Mastering fear is in a general sense choosing what makes a difference.
That’s a good way to put it.
Thanks,
Maxime