List of Famous Fear Quotes in English with Images

Here’s a list of famous quotes about fear, along with their meanings and examples:


1. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." — Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • Meaning: Often, the fear of a situation is more paralyzing than the situation itself. Conquering fear helps us move forward.

  • Example: A person might be scared to try public speaking. However, once they start, they realize the fear was worse than the experience.


2. "Do one thing every day that scares you." — Eleanor Roosevelt

  • Meaning: Facing small fears each day builds courage and confidence.

  • Example: If someone is afraid of talking to strangers, they could start by greeting someone new every day.


3. "There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure." — Paulo Coelho

  • Meaning: Fear of not succeeding can hold us back from reaching our full potential.

  • Example: An aspiring artist might avoid sharing their work because they fear criticism, but doing so is the only way to grow.


4. "Fear is only as deep as the mind allows." — Japanese Proverb

  • Meaning: Fear is a mental barrier, and we can control how much power it has over us.

  • Example: Someone nervous about flying may find that by learning more about how safe flying is, they can reduce their fear.


5. "Everything you want is on the other side of fear." — Jack Canfield

  • Meaning: Often, overcoming our fears is necessary to achieve our biggest dreams.

  • Example: A person who wants to start a business may have to overcome their fear of risk and uncertainty to succeed.


6. "Fear cuts deeper than swords." — George R.R. Martin

  • Meaning: Fear can cause more damage than physical harm, limiting us emotionally and mentally.

  • Example: A person afraid of rejection may avoid forming relationships, causing loneliness, which can feel more painful than a physical injury.


7. "Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great." — John D. Rockefeller

  • Meaning: Fear of losing what we already have can hold us back from reaching even greater opportunities.

  • Example: An employee may hesitate to leave a stable job for a better one out of fear of change, but taking the risk could lead to career growth.


8. "Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out." — Karl A. Menninger

  • Meaning: We often learn fears from experiences or society, but we also have the power to unlearn them.

  • Example: A child afraid of water may overcome their fear through swimming lessons and positive experiences with water.


9. "He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • Meaning: Part of personal growth is learning to confront and overcome fears regularly.

  • Example: A person with a fear of heights might gradually practice standing on high balconies or bridges to gain control over their fear.


10. "Fear doesn’t shut you down; it wakes you up." — Veronica Roth

  • Meaning: Instead of paralyzing us, fear can sharpen our senses, making us more aware and alert.

  • Example: An athlete may feel fear before a big game, but they use it to focus and heighten their performance.


These quotes highlight that while fear is a natural emotion, it can be overcome and even used as a source of strength.

In life we don't get what we want, we get in life what we are.  If we want more we have to be able to be more, in order to be more you have to face rejection.

- Farrah Gray Quote

Fear is a question: What are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information, your fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if you explore them.

- Marilyn Ferguson Quotes

To use fear as the friend it is, we must retrain and reprogram ourselves… We must persistently and convincingly tell ourselves that the fear is here - with its gift of energy and heightened awareness - so we can do our best and learn the most in the new situation.

- Peter McWilliams Quotes

Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make you a far happier and more productive person.

- Fear Quotes by Dr. David M. Burns

Even the fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of not having lived authentically and fully.

- Frances Moore Lappe Quotes

Let the fear of danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger.

- Francis Quarles Quote

A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward.

- Jean Paul Richter Quotes

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.

- Fear Quotes by Eric Hoffer

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.

- Fear Quotes by Eric Hoffer Download or Share

No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.

- Fear Quotes by Edmund Burke

No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.

- Fear Quotes by Edmund Burke Download or Share

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

- Fear Quotes by Dorothy Bernard

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

- Fear Quotes by Dorothy Bernard Download or Share

Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed.

- Fear Quotes by Michael Pritchards Download or Share

It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.

- Quote by Eric Hoffer Download or Share

None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.

- Ferdinand Foch Quote

I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are.

- Frances More Lappe Quotes

There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.

- George Carlin Quote

Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt.

- George Sewell Quotes

Fear not those who argue but those who argue but those who dodge.

- Marie Ebner von Eschenbach Quotes

The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.

- Publilius Syrus Quotes

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

- Susan Jeffers Quote

At first cock-crow the ghosts must go
Back to their quiet graves below.

- Theodosia Garrison Quote

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material Place.

- Emily Dickinson Quotes

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty.  To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

- Fear Quotes by Bertrand Russell