The worst of all fears is the fear of living

Real terror is the most physically debilitating of emotions. It saps the endocrines, dumps muscle-tightening organic drugs into the bloodstream, races the heart, exhausts the mind.

Of all the hazards, fear is the worst.

The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.

It’s an austere, terrifying sensation. A reminder of something we all suppress most of the time, because it hurts so much.
The stark loneliness of individuality.
The essential alienness of others.
And of the universe itself.

The most frightful of all spectacles is the strength of the civilization without its mercy.

A very, in a sense, terrifying aspect of our society, and other societies, is the equanimity and the detachment with which sane, reasonable, sensible people can observe [war]. I think that's more terrifying than the occasional Hitler or LeMay or other that crops up. These people would not be able to operate were it not for this apathy and equanimity...and therefore I think that it's, in some sense, the sane and reasonable and tolerant people who share a very serious burden of guilt that they very easily throw on the shoulders of others who seem more extreme and violent.

Nothing is more frightful than to see ignorance in action.

The biggest threat to society (old or modern) arises when it gets prone to oppression and worse still, when the critics of oppression become too microscopic even to be counted on one's fingers.

Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans. We have learned to live our lives trying to satisfy other people’s demands. We have learned to live by other people’s points of view because of the fear of not being accepted and of not being good enough for someone else.

It is impossible not to notice that our world is tormented by failure, hate, guilt, and fear.

Is there anything more frightening than people?

The idea that there are no wrong feelings is immensely threatening to people who are afraid to feel. This is one of the peculiar problems of Western culture: We are terrified of our feelings, because they take off on their own. We think that if we give them any scope, if we don’t immediately beat them down, they will lead us into all kinds of chaotic and destructive actions.

…What our age needs, what it demands, what it will create for itself, is — terror.