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 that children in the dark hold in terror and imagine will come true. This terror, therefore, and darkness of mind must be dispelled not by the rays of the sun and glittering shafts of daylight, but by the aspect and law of nature.

Assim como as crianças tremem e têm medo de tudo na escuridão cega, também nós, à claridade da luz, às vezes tememos o que não deveria inspirar mais temor do que as coisas que aterrorizam as crianças no escuro... Lucrécio, Sobre a natureza das coisas (cerca de 60 a.C.)

Children will always be afraid of the dark, and men with minds sensitive to hereditary impulse will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the gulfs beyond the stars, or press hideously upon our own globe in unholy dimensions which only the dead and the moonstruck can glimpse.

Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children, is increased with tales,

Men fear death as children fear to go into the dark and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other

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.

Children will always be afraid of the dark, and men with minds sensitive to hereditary impulse will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the gulfs beyond the stars, or press hideously upon our own globe in unholy dimensions which only the dead and the moonstruck can glimpse.” — “Supernatural Horror in Literature

All children are afraid of the night; when they grow up, they are still afraid, but more afraid of admitting it. ("Night Thoughts," May 8, 1939)

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. / Nije problem dijete koje se boji mraka; prava tragedija su odrasli koji se boje svjetla.

Come on back and we’ll see if you remember the simplest thing of all – how it is to be children, secure in belief and thus afraid of the dark.

Come on back and we'll see if you remember the simplest thing of all – how it is to be children, secure in belief and thus afraid of the dark.

The reason why darkness is terrifying for us, he reflected, is that there remains in us the instinctive fear the primitive man had when there was as yet no light.

If you are afraid of the dark, you seek the light. But what do you do when even the light is filled with terrors?

"Oh, my sweet summer child," Old Nan said quietly, "what do you know of fear?
Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet
deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long
night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children
are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and
hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods"