Quotes: Miss Marion Brook

 "You mustn't be afraid to fail or you'll never succeed." 

–– Miss Marion Brook, character on The Gilded Age 2.2 (American TV show)

Quotes: Ann-Marie MacDonald

 ""Are you very frightened, Charlotte?"

""Of course not," I sputtered.

""Then how do you propose to be brave?"

""I am terrified, Miss Gourley."

""Good show, there's your first step. Remember, all must feel fear: The important thing is not to be ruled by it."

–– Ann-Marie MacDonald (b. 1958), Canadian playwright, author, actress, and broadcast host 

Source: Ann-Marie MacDonald. Fayne. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2022; p. 669. 

via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2025, p. 32.

Quotes: Miles Davis

"Do not fear mistakes, there are none."

–– Miles Davis (1926-1991), American musician, bandleader, and composer 

via: Commonplace Book 2024, p. 28.

Quotes: Anonymous

"You'll never get an A if you're always afraid of getting an F." 

–– Anonymous

via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2023, p. 124.

Quotes: Kate Morton

"Someone I used to know a long time ago told me once that fear is the doorway to opportunity." 

–– Kate Morton, Australian novelist 

Source: Kate Morton. Homecoming. Toronto: Simon & Schuster, 2023; p. 46.

 via: Commonplace Book 2022, 2022, p. 105.

Quotes: Nelson Mandela

"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? ... Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."

–– Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), South African anti-apartheid activist, politician, South Africa's first Black president (1994-1999), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1993 

Source: Nelson Mandela 1994 inaugural speech, South Africa

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.

Quotes: Nelson Mandela

"As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

–– Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), South African anti-apartheid activist, politician, South Africa's first Black president (1994-1999), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1993 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.

Quotes: Harriet Rubin

"Ask yourself, when you are afraid or on the verge of a breakthrough: When does a candle shine the brightest? The answer is always in the dark."   

–– Harriet Rubin (b. 1952), American writer

Source: Harriet Rubin. The Princessa. 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2002.

Quotes: Paul Lima

"[Diane Baker] Mason is finally living her dream. She has made time to write. To do anything less than that would be a living nightmare, a waste of time for a sober, thinner Mason who finds herself driven by fear. Not the mundane fears of success or failure, but "the fear of being mundane. Of living your whole life and not having tried."" 

–– Paul Lima, Canadian writer 

Source: Paul Lima. "Dreaming of Fat City." The Globe and Mail. Saturday October 13, 2001 (p. D16-17); p. D17. Re: Toronto writer Diane Baker Mason's debut novel Last Summer at Barebones. 

via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2001.

Quotes: Carl Jung

"Where your fear is, there your task is."

–– Carl Jung (1875-1961), Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist 

Quotes: Marie Curie

"There is nothing in life to fear, just to understand." 

–– Marie Curie (1867-1934), Polish-born French physicist and chemist

Quotes: Patricia Lockwood

"Part of what you have to figure out in this life is, who would I be if I hadn't been frightened. What hurt me, and what would I be if it hadn't?" 

–– Patricia Lockwood (b. 1982), American poet, essayist, and novelist 

Source: Patricia Lockwood. Priestdaddy. New York: Riverhead Books, 2017; p. 326.

Quotes: C. S. Lewis

"No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear." 

–– C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Irish-born British writer and lay theologian 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 39.

Quotes: Ruby Dee

"God, make me so uncomfortable that I will do the very thing I fear." 

–– Ruby Dee (1922-2014), American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist

Quotes: Pema Chödrön

"Place the fearful mind in the cradle of lovingkindness." 

–– Pema Chödrön  (b. 1936), American Buddhist nun and author 

via: Sketchbook 28, 2016, p. 146.

Quotes: Marcus Aurelius

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."

–– Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), Roman Emperor and Stoic Philosopher 

via Sketchbook 28, 2015, p. 9. 

Quotes: Guillaume Apollinaire

"Come to the edge," he said.

"We can't, we're afraid," they responded.

"Come to the edge," he said.

"We can't, we will fall," they responded.

"Come to the edge," he said.

And so they came.

And he pushed them.

And they flew."

–– Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish-Belarusian descent. 

via: Sketchbook 27, 2015, p. 74.

Quotes: Seneca

"Where the fear is, happiness is not." 

–– Seneca (4 BC - AD 65), Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman 

via Sketchbook 17, 2011, p. 71

Quotes: Alex Bogusky

"Fear is the mortal enemy of creativity, innovation, and happiness." 

–– Alex Bogusky (b. 1963), American designer, advertising executive, and writer. 

via Sketchbook 14, 2011, p. 92.

Women's quotes: Margaret Atwood

"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them." 

–– Margaret Atwood (b. 1939), Canadian writer, environmental activist and inventor