140 Inspiring Quotes About Facing Fear And Overcoming Fear

Facing fear is never easy, but it’s a necessary part of life. It can be as simple as facing your fear of public speaking to something more serious like facing your fears about death.

We all have our own unique fears and challenges that we face over the course of our lives, and we need to learn how to overcome them, or at least work through them, to become happy and healthy people.

Below we have 140 inspirational quotes to help you face your fears head on.

Related: 9 Reasons to Never Give up on Your dreams and Achieve Your Goals

Quotes About Facing Fear And Overcoming Fear That Will Help You Face Your Fears Head On

1. “Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil” – Aristotle

2. “Fear is a liar.” – Anonymous

3. “You always have two choices: your commitment versus your fear.” – Sammy Davis, Jr.

4. “The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.” – John C. Maxwell

5. “The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.” – Anonymous

6. ”The eagle has no fear of adversity. We need to be like the eagle and have a fearless spirit of a conqueror! “ – Joyce Meyer

7. ”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

8. “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” – Susan Jeffers

9. “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie

10. “Fear breeds fear.” – Byron Janis

11. “When you’re scared, you stay as you are!” – Stephen Richards

12. ”As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.” – Chanakya

13. “If I had just a little bit of wisdom I should walk the great path and fear only straying from it.” – Lao Tzu

14. “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will” – Suzy Kassem

15. ”If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.” – Sun Tzu 

16. “To overcome fear, here’s all you have to do: realize the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway.” – Peter McWilliams

17. “Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.” – Benjamin Franklin

18. “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

19. “Fear has its use, but cowardice has none.” – Gandhi

20. “Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.” – Napoleon Hill

21. “Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom.” – Marilyn Ferguson

22. “Fear is only as deep as the mind allows.” – Japanese Proverb

23. “No man is a failure who is enjoying life.” – William Feather

24. “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” –Theodore Roosevelt

25. “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

26. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

27. ”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

28. “He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

29. “Fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.” – Dale Carnegie

30. “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” – Babe Ruth

31. “Our deepest fears are like dragons guarding our deepest treasures.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

32. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius

33. “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

34. “I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest.” – John Keats

35. ”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

36. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard

37. “Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.” – W. Clement Stone

38. “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

39. “Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.” – Anonymous

40. “There is no illusion greater than fear.” – Lao Tzu

41. “What you are afraid to do is a clear indication of the next thing you need to do.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

42. ”Living with fear stops us taking risks, and if you don’t go out on the branch, you’re never going to get the best fruit.” – Sarah Parish

43. “Fear is a habit; so is self-pity, defeat, anxiety, despair, hopelessness and resignation. You can eliminate all of these negative habits with two simple resolves: I can. I will.” – Anonymous

44. ”Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” – Jim Morrison

45. “Where fear is, happiness is not.” – Seneca

46. “Do not take counsel of your fears.” – George Patton

47. “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

48. “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

49. “Fear is the needle that pierces us that it may carry a thread to bind us to heaven.” – James Hastings

50. “Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.” – Mark Twain

51. “Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.” – Helen Keller

52. “Have no fear of perfection. You’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dali

53. “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.” – D.L. Moody

54. “We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets.” – Marilyn Monroe

55. “Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.” – Zig Ziglar

56. “Fear has its use, but cowardice has none.” – Gandhi

57. “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

58. “Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. Live in silence.”- Rumi

59. “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

60. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.” – Ambrose Redmoon

61. “Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death.” – James F. Byrnes

62. ”The key to growth is acknowledging your fear of the unknown and jumping in anyway.” – Jen Sincero

63. “Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown

64. “You miss 100% of the shots you didn’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

65. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks

66. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain

67. “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

68. “He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.” – Aristotle

69. “Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” – Napoleon Hill

70. ”If you go deeper and deeper into your own heart, you’ll be living in a world with less fear, isolation and loneliness.” – Sharon Salzberg

71. “You can be scared. We all are. The trick is to not let that fear take you over. Let it simmer, let it wrap itself around you to keep you alert, but don’t let it become you.” – Courtney M. Privett

72. “No power so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.” – Edmund Burke

73. ”I have a very positive attitude in life. My insecurity, fear and need to know about tomorrow has fortunately eased. What is going to happen will happen anyway. So why break my head over it?” – Katrina Kaif

74. “Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire.” – Dale Carnegie

75. “Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing.” – Emma Donoghue

76. “Men are not afraid of things, but of how they view them.” – Epictetus

77. ”How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.” – Florence Nightingale

78. “Fear is the enemy of logic.” – Frank Sinatra

79. “Fear is a friend of exceptional people.” – Cus D’Amato

80. “Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.” – James Stephens

81. ”Being brave isn’t the absence of fear. Being brave is having that fear but finding a way through it.” – Bear Grylls

82. “For it is not death or hardship that is a fearful thing, but the fear of death and hardship.” – Epictetus

83. ”Limits, like fear, is often an illusion.” – Michael Jordan

84. “Action cures fear, inaction creates terror.” – Douglas Horton

85. “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

86. “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage.” – Dale Carnegie

87. “Face your fears, pursue your ambitions, and become the hero you are destined to be.” – Josh Kaufman

88. “Panic at the thought of doing a thing is a challenge to do it.” – Henry S. Haskins

89. “Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.” – Dorothy Thompson

90. “Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.” – W.Clement Stone

91. “Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” – Francis Chan

92. “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

93. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” – Jack Canfield

94. “People living deeply have no fear of death.” – Anais Nin

95. “He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” – Shannon L. Alder

96. “Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.” – Mary Ferguson

97. “Fear has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Rise.’ The choice is yours.” – Zig Ziglar

98. ”I say I am stronger than fear.” – Malala Yousafzai

99. ”Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear.” – William Congreve

100. “Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it.” – Robert F. Kennedy

101. ”Ignorance is the parent of fear.” – Herman Melville

102. ”Don’t fear, just live right.” – Neal A. Maxwell

103. “Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the conquest of it.” – Anonymous

104. “Only when we accept fear will we have freedom.” – Shane Parrish

105. “Sometimes, when we want something so badly, we fear failure more than we fear being without that thing.” – Matthew J. Kirby

106. “Just like in life, we need to overcome our fears before exploring the next adventure.” – M. Liz Boyle

107. “There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.” – André Gide

108. “Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.” – H. Jackson Browne

109. “Your choices define you. Don’t let fear be your definition.” – Tom Bilyeu

110. “Where fear is present, wisdom cannot be.” – Lacantius

111. “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

112. “Fear is the prison of the heart.” – Anonymous

113. “Extreme fear can neither fight nor fly.” – William Shakespeare

114. “Worry gives a small thing a big shadow.” – Swedish Proverb

115. “Do not let your fears choose your destiny.” – Anonymous

116. “Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed.” – Michael Pritchard

117. “The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free.” – Oprah Winfrey

118. “Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them.” – Orison Swett Margen

119. “Fear is a mile high, a mile wide, and paper thin.” – Unknown

120. “I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.” – William Allen White

121. “The fear of facing your fears is harder to overcome than the fear itself.” – Anonymous

122. “The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost

123. “Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear.” – Martin Luther King

124. “Courage is knowing what not to fear.” – Plato

125. “Fear is never a reason for quitting; it is only an excuse.” – Norman Vincent Peale

126. “Valor grows by daring, fear by holding back.” – Publilis Syrus

127. “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” – Robert Lewis Stevenson

128. “I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.” – Louisa May Alcott

129. “Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile… initially scared me to death.” – Betty Bender

130. “I’m intimidated by the fear of being average.” – Taylor Swift

131. “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

132. “Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them… they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.” – Orison Swett Marden

133. “Find out what you’re afraid of and go live there.” – Chuck Palahniuk

134. “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.” – Frank Herbert

135. “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” – Joseph Campbell

136. “Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop.”- Usman B. Asif

137. “Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.” – Unknown

138. “Great fear is concealed under daring.” – Lucan

139. “Fear is an insidious and deadly thing. It can warp judgment, freeze reflexes, breed mistakes. Worse, it’s contagious.” – Jimmy Stewart

140. “Somebody should tell us right at the start of our lives that we are dying. Then we might live to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.” – Michael Landon