Articles and Features

Halloween and Fear

Week of 10/26/97

I love Halloween because it's the one time of the year when I can put aside my normal fears of life and choose to temporarily be scared of the things that go bump in the night again. When did I stop being scared of vampires and start being scared of my boss? Ok, I can answer that one, but it's all Ann Rice's fault. Until Lestat, I was scared of vampires. But when did witches stop being instruments of terror and start being a convenient name to call a co-worker? Ok, I can answer that one too, and Elizabeth Montgomery has some explaining to do.

The following quotes are associated with the fears of adults (my fear of ghosts and other spirit entities doesn't count). At Halloween, I spend so much time creating artificial fear, that I find myself forgetting about the real ones. To bring myself back to the real stuff, here are some of my favorites.

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

"Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other."
Sir Francis Bacon, Essays [1625], "Of Death"
"There are many who dare not kill themselves for fear of what the neighbors will say."
Cyril Connolly
"Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth-- more than ruin, more even than death."
Bertrand Russell
"You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you."
Eric Hoffer
"To suffering there is a limit; to fearing, none."
Sir Francis Bacon, Essays [1625], "Of Seditions and Troubles"
"Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have."
Louis E. Boone
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us."
Nelson Mandela
"I moved to New York City for my health. I'm paranoid and New York was the only place where my fears were justified."
Anita Weiss
"A thousand fearful images and dire suggestions glance along the mind when it is moody and discontented with itself. Command them to stand and show themselves, and you presently assert the power of reason over imagination."
Sir Walter Scott
"For as children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness, so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things children in the dark hold in terror and imagine will come true."
Titus Lucretius Carus [99-55 B.C.], De Rerum Natura, bk. III, l. 87
For more information about Halloween (you'll have to explore fear on your own), try these links:
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