Alexander McCall Smith Quotes

The only thing that can combat fear is action. And there's two actions. There's fight and flight.

I have had a lifelong phobia of snakes.

The thing is, the more you fear death, the more you die. So it really doesn't pay off. It's a fear of the dark. Like any experience in life, you wonder, Well, if this ever happens, how would I react? and then it happens, and only then do you know.

If I'm out in the country or something, I'm still spooked by snakes.

Fear can't hurt you," she said. "When it washes over you, give it no power. It's a snake with no venom. Remember that. That knowledge can save you.

best way to deal with fear is to face the nightmare!

Fear is a good thing because it keeps you alive, but if it becomes so great that it hinders you from doing what you want, you need to confront it head-on

To defend oneself against a fear is simply to insure that one will, one day, be conquered by it; fears must be faced.

Life is made of fear. Some people eat fear soup three times a day. Some people eat fear soup all the meals there are. I eat it sometimes. When they bring me fear soup to eat, I try not to eat it, I try to send it back. But sometimes I'm too afraid to and have to eat it anyway.

I write about things that scare me. I've never written a snake story in my life. I myself have never written a story about snakes because they don't scare me. I write about rats because they scare the hell out of me.

I've never thought of myself as being particularly brave - I used to be frightened of the dark when I was small. And I'm not very good with dead rats and things like that. But I face what has to be faced and I hope as best as I'm able.

Never, never let a person know you're frightened. And a group of them ... absolutely never. Fear brings out the worst in everybody.

You can't be afraid until you have no other option but to be afraid.

I do not think I have any uncharitable prejudice against the rattlesnake, still, I should not like to be one.

The last time I was this scared, I peed myself." "The last time I was this scared," Radar says, "I actually had to face a Dark Lord in order to make the world safe for wizards.

When the lab rats hear the bell ringing, they freeze. That's what fear does to you - fear stops you dead in your tracks. Fear can keep you from harm, but fear can also rob you of your potential. Fear can rob you of an experience. Fear can rob you of happiness. Fear can rob you of real life... Darkness has a way of scaring us.

You can't be afraid. You can be sad if you like. You can be angry. But it's the fear that'll freeze you in place.

I don't like anything that scares me, and I prefer to face it head on and get over it. Anyone who says they're not scared is a fool, a liar or both. I just don't want that fear in my stomach to be part of my life, so I work to eliminate it.

The truth is rarely as dreadful or as terrifying as what one imagines.

Once fear enters your life - it will take you in one of two directions: empowerment or panic.

It is very foolish of a man to be frightened of a skeleton, for Nature has put an insurmountable obstacle against running away from it.

Attacking or fleeing are part of the struggle; being paralysed by fear is not.

When you are afraid, do the thing you are afraid of and soon you will lose your fear of it.

Be scared. You can't help that. But don't be afraid.

Surrendering to fear and allowing ourselves to be paralyzed by peril isn't something most of us can afford to do.