Thomas Bernhard Quotes

You never find yourself until you face the truth.

We repress the things we're scared of, but if we just look at and embrace the things we're scared of, it's a much fuller, richer life that's also not as scary.

I want to investigate what scares me and worries me.

I think when I feel fear, that's often a cue that I should do something. If I begin to feel fear, that's a strong sign, psychologically, that something has its hooks in me somewhere deep.

There is no real escape from autobiography into biography. The self has to be faced, or we die.

We are afraid. But fear confirms life and identifies the source of every successful argument - ourselves.

All knowledge leads to self-knowledge.

Sometimes getting upset with yourself is necessary when you face the truth.

If you find yourself running away from something and then suddenly you're isolated in a vacuum, then you have to deal with all the inherent truths and learning things about yourself and the people that are around you.

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.

I think I'm attracted to subjects that I'm afraid of. It's a way to approach things I am afraid of, things that bring fear in my heart, and try to understand them, try to deal with them. It's like demons. I try to approach it and understand it... I'm just visiting fears.

Fear is a question. What are you afraid of and why? Our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them.

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'

Prayer gives a man the opportunity of getting to know a gentleman he hardly ever meets. I do not mean his maker, but himself.

Fear runs our lives. It doesn't matter who you are. You have to understand your relationship with fear. Whether you're scared of getting into a relationship; or taking the new job; or a confrontation - you have to size fear up.

If we fear the unknown then surely we fear ourselves.

Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves.

I've got this fear of becoming comfortable.

When you see how you react when you suffer that's when you know what you are made of.

A lot of people live in fear because they haven't figured out how you're going to react when faced with a certain set of circumstances. I've come to terms with this by looking deeply into whatever makes me fearful - what are the key elements that get the hairs up on the back of my neck - and then figuring out what I can do about it.

Fear is a driving force for most of the things that I do. I don't know if that's healthy.

Never be afraid to sit a while and think.

I discovered myself!

The man who cannot endure to have his errors and shortcomings brought to the surface and made known, but tries to hide them, is unfit to walk the highway of truth.

I was afraid of being a failure, of not having the best time or of being chicken. But every year I get older I think, What was I fearing last year?' You forget. And then you move on.