Fear itself

The notion of being more fearful of fear than anything else is frequently encountered in literature. For example, Franklin D. Roosevelt used it in his first inaugural address in 1933. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Over one hundred years before, in 1831, the Duke of Wellington remarked, “The only thing I am afraid of is fear.” Thus, down the years, it has become something of cliché since it was first attributed to Montaigne in Essays (1580), who wrote, “C’est de quoy j’ay le plus de peur que la peur” which means “The thing of which I have the most fear is fear.”