Life never presents us with anything which may not be looked upon as a fresh starting point, no less than as a termination.
Andre GideRead
There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Most of the fears we have about certain threats are exaggerated and not as justified as we think.
In this quote by AndrΓ© Gide, he reflects on the nature of fear and the reality of threats. He suggests that the monsters we imagine or the fears we harbor are often overblown and not reflective of the actual dangers present. This commentary emphasizes the tendency of humans to amplify their fears rather than assess them rationally, calling into question our understanding of what truly deserves our anxiety.
Themes
FearMonstersAnxietyPerceptionReality
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming fears, one might say, 'Remember, there are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.'
More from Andre Gide
All quotes βDo not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings.
Andre GideRead
Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.
Andre GideRead
Through fear of resembling one another, through horror of having to submit, through uncertainty as well, through skepticism and complexity, there is a multitude of individual little beliefs for the triumph of strange little individuals.
Andre GideRead
It is the special quality of love not to be able to remain stationary, to be obliged to increase under pain of diminishing.
Andre GideRead
It is with noble sentiments that bad literature gets written.
Andre GideRead
Similar quotes
What is perceptible to oneβs mistrust is the cut-and-dried way that life is divided up and the ready-made form it assumes, the ever-recurring sameness of it, the pre-formations passed down by generation after generation, the ready-made language not only of the tongue but also of the sensations and the feelings.
Robert MusilRead
Whether I am or am not a Communist is irrelevant. The question is whether American citizens, regardless of their political beliefs or sympathies, may enjoy their constitutional rights.
Paul RobesonRead
The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.
Eckhart TolleRead
In Canada, there's a surprising worship of managerialism versus ownership and wealth creation. There's a real problem in this country with believing that management is the answer to our problems.
John Ralston SaulRead
The great events of life often leave one unmoved; they pass out of consciousness, and, when thinks of them, become unreal. Even the scarlet flowers of passion seem to grow in the same meadow as the poppies of oblivion. We reject the burden of their memory, and have anodynes against them. But the little things, the things of no moment, remain with us. In some tiny ivory cell the brain stores the most delicate, and the most fleeting impressions.
Oscar WildeRead
We control the world basically because we are the only animals that can cooperate flexibly in very large numbers. And if you examine any large-scale human cooperation, you will always find that it is based on some fiction like the nation, like money, like human rights.
Yuval Noah HarariRead