It is fear that I am most afraid of. In harshness it surpasses all other mischances.
[C’est ce dequoy j’ay le plus de peur, que la peur. Aussi surmonte elle en aigreur tous autres accidents.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 17 (1.17), “Of Fear [De la Peur]” (1572) [tr. Screech (1987), 1.18]
(Source)
This essay was in the 1st (1580) edition, and was expanded in subsequent editions. This particular passage was added for the final, 1595, edition.
Some editions and translations, following the 1588 sequence, refer to this as being in ch. 18.
See also Roosevelt (1933).
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:It is feare I stand most in feare of. For, in sharpnesse it surmounteth all other accidents.
[tr. Florio (1603)]The thing in the World I am most afraid of is Fear, and with good reason, that Passion alone, in the trouble of it, exceeding all other Accidents.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]The thing I am most afraid of is fear, because it is a passion which supersedes and suspends all others.
[tr. Friswell (1868)]The thing in the world I am most afraid of is fear, that passion alone, in the trouble of it, exceeding all other accidents.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]The thing I am most afraid of is fear. And, indeed, it surpasses in sharpness all other calamities.
[tr. Ives (1925), 1.18]The thing I fear most is fear.
Moreover, it exceeds all other disorders in intensity.
[tr. Frame (1943), 1.18]Fear is what I fear most.
No other experience is more bitter.
[tr. HyperEssays (2025)]
Quotations about:
fright
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Piglet took Pooh’s arm, in case Pooh was frightened.
A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
House at Pooh Corner, ch. 4 “Tiggers Don’t Climb Trees” (1928)
(Source)
If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.
Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) American boxer, activist [b. Cassius Clay]
(Attributed)
From noise of Scare-fires rest ye free,
From Murders Benedicite.
From all mischances, they may fright
Your pleasing slumbers in the night:
Mercie secure ye all, and keep
The Goblins from ye, while ye sleep.
Death, like life, is an affair of being more frightened than hurt.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Erewhon (1872)
