There are a lot of amazing quotes about overcoming fear, and from time to time, it’s quite helpful to take a look at the messages these quotes offer. Taken to heart, these messages can be game-changers.
Before you dig into these quotes on being scared and handling your fears, let’s take a quick look at what’s keeping you stuck in fear and preventing you from stepping into your big, bold, beautiful, confident life.
What Are You Afraid Of? What Scares You Most (Or Most Often)?
What are the fears that come into your life most often? Perhaps it’s one (or more) of these top fears that many people have:
- Fear of failure
- Fear of the unknown
- Fear of loss
- Fear of the future
- Fear of making a mistake
- Fear of getting hurt
- Fear of being alone
- Fear of being abandoned
- Fear of being seen for who you are then being rejected
- Fear that you’re not good enough
Then there are phobias in life — such as fear of flying, snakes, insects, needles, and so forth. We’re really not going to talk about phobias here. I recommend getting professional help for those. (Here’s a quick read in case you’re’ interested: How to Overcome a Debilitating Phobia.)
How Do Your Fears Keep You From Living Your Very Best Life?
Take a moment to think about times when fear shows up in your life. Think about how that fear impacts you.
- Do your fears keep you from pursuing your dreams and living your best life?
- Do your fears leave you stuck in anxiety?
- Does fear overwhelm you with worry and stress?
- Does fear keep you stuck in bad relationships?
- Do you stay in a lousy job because you’re afraid to make a change?
- Does fear wreck your confidence?
When you think about it, the fears in your life are not harmless. They shape your life in so many ways.
Fear can be a warning of a true threat … in which case it can serve you well. But, most of the time, our fears are not based in fact but rather in long-held self-limiting beliefs that do not serve us. When you muster the courage to stare down this type of fear, your life elevates in ways you’ve been dreaming about for years.
The fear-squelching and fear-facing quotes you are about to view offer many different perspectives on what to do when you’re afraid. These quotes could very well offer the dose of inspiration and courage you’re hoping for.
Give in to Your Fears or Rise Above Them: The Choice Is Yours
You can choose to live in fear. Or, you can choose to embrace self-acceptance, shun self-doubt, change your thinking habits, and step into a happier and more fulfilling life.
I genuinely hope these 99 quotes on overcoming fear over the solutions and motivation you need to diminish fear in your life. Once you stop allowing fear to control you, your life will most assuredly unfold in amazing ways.
The Very Best Quotes on Overcoming Fear & Stepping into Your Confidence
1. You think fear is the problem, but it isn’t. The problem is your unwillingness to walk forward despite your fear. Once you muster the resolve to do that, your life unfolds in miraculous ways. -J. Marie Novak
2. Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear. -Tony Robbins
3. Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I’d like to see you in better living conditions. -Hafiz
4. Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dream. -Paulo Coelho
5. Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out. -Karl A. Menninger
6. How little can be done under the spirit of fear. -Florence Nightingale
7. Do not let your fears choose your destiny. -Unknown
8. Fear is found in the unknown. The more you learn, the less fear you will have. Never stop learning. -Avina Celeste
9. 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
10. Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears. -Rudyard Kipling
11. Fear is only as deep as the mind allows. -Japanese Proverb
12. Where your fear is, there is your task. -C.G. Jung
Step into Your Courage
Your fears are calling you to step into your courage. Sometimes the only way to elevate your life is to say “I’m not going to continue living this way. I have dreams and goals for my life and even though I’m afraid, I’ll do what it takes to turn those dreams and goals into reality.”
It’s human nature to be afraid sometimes . Yet, those who are brave enough to not let their fears stop them end up living the most joyous and successful lives. So, step into your courage. You’ve got this!
13. 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
14. We really only have two choices. Play it safe, or take a chance. For me, pulling back because of fear has always made me feel worse. -Gail Sheehy
15. Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. -George S. Patton
16. I hate fear, I really do. I hate the word. I hate the feelings it evokes. I hate the idea of having to stare it down. But when I look at what I’ve accomplished when I faced my fears, I realize these have been the proudest moments of my life. – J. Marie Novak
17. He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. – Shannon L. Alder
18. I was set free because my greatest fear has been realized and I was still alive. -J.K. Rowling
19. 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
20. It’s believing in our dreams and facing our fears head-on that allows us to live our lives beyond limits. -Amy Purdy
21. There is no illusion greater than fear. -Lao Tzu
22. Feel the fear and do it anyway. -Susan Jeffers
23. When we live our lives guided by fear, we don’t ever see the true richness in life we’re meant to experience. -J. Marie Novak
24. I believe that every single event in life happens is an opportunity to choose love over fear. -Oprah Winfrey
25. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. -Helen Keller
When You Face Your Fears, Their Power Over You Diminishes
It’s not about becoming fearless. It’s about fearing less. When you face your fears, you gain a sense of confidence that you simply won’t ever feel if you cower from the challenges before you that scare you.
When choose to face your fears, your fears have less power in your life. This doesn’t mean that new fears won’t pop up, it just means they won’t have the same life-stifling power over you as they did before.
26. Your mission: Be so busy loving your life that you have no time for hate, regret, or fear. -Karen Salmansohn
27. Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. -Yoda
28. When you resolve to rest in Divine Love and trust in Divine Timing, your fears calm quickly. -J. Marie Novak
29. Do one thing every day that scares you. -Eleanor Roosevelt
30. To overcome fear, here’s all you have to do: realize the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway. -Peter McWilliams
31. The scariest movement is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better. -Stephen King
32. I won’t let fear defeat me. I will glance at it and smile, knowing that within me is an infinite strength and that is where I choose to place my faith. Faith always trumps fear. Always. – J. Marie Novak
33. The process of spotting fear and refusing to obey it is the source of all true empowerment. -Martha Beck
34. Being aware of your fear is smart. Overcoming it is the mark of a successful person. -Seth Godin
35. The fears you run away from run toward you. The fears you don’t own will own you. But behind every fear wall lives a precious treasure. -Robin S. Sharma
36. Every single worry or fear you have will be meaningless down the road. Every. Single. One. -Kamal Ravikant
37. There are two sorts of fear: one you embrace and one you should listen to and turn the other way. -Matthew McConaughey
38. You could overcome most anything if you refused to turn your face from it. -Ali Shaw
39. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. -Anais Nin
Action Is the Secret to Moving Beyond Your Fears
You can’t think your way out of your fears; you must take action. Take one step forward towards whatever you’re facing that you fear right now. Then take the next step, and the next. As you bravely move forward, your courage will increase.
Action is the only way to tame your fears.
40. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure. -Paulo Coelho
41. The purpose of fear is to raise your awareness not to stop your progress. -Steve Maraboli
42. Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. -Dale Carnegie
43. If you’re paralyzed with fear, it’s a good sign. It shows you what you have to do. -Steven Pressfield
44. The only way to ease our fear and be truly happy is to acknowledge our fear and look deeply at its source. Instead of trying to escape from our fear, we can invite it up to our awareness and look at it clearly and deeply. -Thich Nhat Hanh
45. Fear is a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life. -Donald Miller
46. The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. -Joseph Campbell
47. The fears we don’t face become our limits. -Robin Sharma
48. Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself. -Samuel Butler
49. The enemy is fear. We think it is hate, but it is fear. -Gandhi
50. I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship. -Louisa May Alcott
51. Do what you fear and fear disappears. -David Joseph Schwartz
52. Fear lies to us. It keeps us locked behind closed doors. Whether the doors are wooden ones or our hearts, fear locks us in and holds us captive. -Mandi Hart
53. Fear is inevitable, I have to accept that, but I cannot allow it to paralyze me. -Isabel Allende
54. The box that I have built around me is equal to the fear that is within me. -Craig D. Lounsbrough
55. As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence actually liberates others. – Marianne Williamson
56. There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them. -Andre Gide
57. Overcoming what frightens you the most strengthens you the most. -Matshona Dhliwayo
58. ‘I am afraid’ can be the end or the beginning: ‘I am afraid so I will run away,’ or ‘I am afraid, and I will embrace my fear and do it regardless.’ -Dragos Bratasanu
59. What you are afraid to do is a clear indication of the next thing you need to do. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
60. A fear of weakness only strengehsn Weakness -Criss Jami
Don't Fight Your Fears, But Do Learn How to Put Fear In Its Place
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when it comes to confronting their fears is how they define what those fears are. If you look at your fears as though they are monsters or dragons, then you’ll have to fight monsters and dragons. That’s hard. In fact, that’s really hard.
If you look at your fears as just simple insecurities that everyone faces from time to time, those fears are far less threatening. So keep your fears in perspective. You’re usually not facing a life-threatening decision. When you recognize your fears for what they are, you can put them in their place more easily.
61. Everything you want is on the other side of fear. -Jack Canfield
62. I don’t believe in fearlessness; life can be downright scary sometimes. But, I also believe that fear doesn’t have to run my life or ruin it. I choose to believe in myself and believe in the ultimate goodness of life. -J. Marie Novak
63. Hopeful thinking can get you out of your fear zone and into your appreciation zone. -Martha Beck
64. I don’t run away from a challenge because I’m afraid. Instead, I run towards it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your foot. -Nadia Comaneci
65. Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. -Babe Ruth
66. If I had just a little bit of wisdom, I should walk the great path and fear only straying from it. -Lao Tzu
67. Sometimes it’s like: If something terrifies you, you should totally do it BECAUSE it terrifies you. And then you’ll do it and you’ll realize what you’re capable of. -Jonathan Saccone-Joly
68. Laughter is poison to fear. – George R.R. Martin
69. Fear never scaled one mountain, never stepped on stage, never accepted a challenge, never tilled new ground, ever walked in a race; he never even dared to dream. Fear failed to slay a dragon. Remember this before you choose to keep his company. -Richelle E. Goodrich
70. To escape fear, you have to go through it, not around it. -Richie Norton
71. Stupid would be denying my heart something it wants just because it’s afraid. I’m not going to live in life in fear just because of the unknown. -Crystal Cestari
72. 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 fear. -Nelson Mandela
73. It’s okay to be afraid. Just don’t let it get the best of you. If you do, it will slowly creep inside you until you’re completely paralyzed. Fear has that effect unless you bravely face it head-on. When you accept fear, it actually makes you stronger. -Kevin J. Donaldson
74. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. -Mark Twain
75. Thinking will not overcome fear, but action will. -W. Clement Stone
76. If we let fear control our decision making we always make the wrong decision. -Butch Bellah
77. If you let your fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, your life will be safe, expedient, and thin. -Katharine Butler Hathaway
78. Don’t be afraid to walk alone, and don’t be afraid to like it. Sometimes you have to be lost to find yourself again. -Nitya Prakash
79. Fear echoes your self-defined limitations, not your actual pens. To change your self-image, you must face what scares you. -Vironika Tugaleva
If You Want to Live a Happy & Fulfilling Life, You Must Be Willing to Face Your Fears
Ultimately, the happiness you face in your life will be impacted by how skilled you become in facing your fears. One of the best things you can do the moment you have a fearful thought is ask yourself, “Is this thought really true? Or am I blowing this out of proportion?”
The next thing you can do is remind yourself of how truly powerful and confident you really are. You can handle whatever comes your way. Your life challenges are not there to defeat you, they’re there to help you rise to new levels.
Don’t give into your fears; learn to live with them, and learn to walk right through them as though you’re walking through a gentle cascade of water. On the other side of the wall made of water is everything you’ve been dreaming about having and achieving in your life. You’ve got this — believe in yourself 100 times more than you believe in your fears and your life will transform in amazing ways!
80. The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid. -Lady Bird Johnson
81. Don’t be afraid of being scared. To be afraid is a sign of common sense. Only complete idiots are not afraid of anything. -Carlos Ruiz Zafron
82. Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death. -Unknown
83. Adjusting our mindset for success is always at least half the battle. In the case of overcoming our fears, rather than being overcome by them — it is 99% a war waged in our own head. -Connie Kerbs
84. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves. -Cheryl Strayed
85. It’s okay to be scared. Being scared means you’re’ about to do something really, really brave. -Mandy Hale
86. Don’t be afraid to leave the castle. It’s a great big world out there. -Jennifer Niven
87. There is no illusion greater than fear. -Lao Tzu
88. Behind every flinch is a fear or an anxiety —sometimes rational and sometimes not. Without the fear, there is no flinch. But wiping out the fear isn’t what’s important — facing it is. -Julien Smith.
89. Face your fears as if your life depends on it, because living in fear keeps you from living. -Jeanette Coron
90. True courage comes not just from feeling confident and strong, but from being the honest, authentic expression of yourself. Think about how audacious it is to really believe in yourself … that your presence on this earth matters. -Debbie Ford
91. Fear is like a light switch —you can turn it on, and you can turn it off. And, sometimes other people or certain situations will turn the darn thing on again, but you don’t have to react … Just flip the switch off yourself. The power is always within you. -J. Marie Novak
92. 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
93. Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter. -Francis Chan
94. You can’t grow if you are afraid of change -Bernardo Moya
95. It’s okay to be scared. I was scared all the time. The important part is to know what you’re going to do with it. -Tom Clancy
96. 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
97. Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. -Winston Churchill
98. Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway. -John Wayne
99. You cannot swim for new horizons until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. -William Faulkner
Did These 99 Quotes Inspire You to Face Your Fears and Be More Courageous?
Fear will come up in your life — and some of those fears are warranted, while others are overblown reactions to the unknown or a miscalculation of your true value and strength. You get to choose how you respond to fearful thoughts.
Sometimes, you’ll want to heed the warnings and allow fear to protect you from true threats that would harm you. In most cases though, fear is an emotional reaction that will lead you away from what you really want in life instead of towards it.
Courage doesn’t precede fear; courage means staring fear down and saying “I appreciate the warning, but I’m moving forward anyway.” This is the way to build your confidence. This is the way to radically improve your life and live in freedom and joy, knowing that you can handle anything that comes your way.
I strongly encourage you to go out and do something that scares you today. It’ll change your life.
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