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Fear may come true that which one is afraid of.
Viktor E. Frankl
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Fear has the power to manifest the very things we dread if we give it too much attention.

This quote by Viktor E. Frankl highlights the paradoxical nature of fear. It suggests that our anxieties and fears can become a self-fulfilling prophecy; if we dwell on our fears, we may inadvertently bring them to fruition. Therefore, attention to fear can lead to its reality, urging us to confront our fears rather than be paralyzed by them.

Themes

FearCourageAnxietyManifestationSelf-FulfillingProphecy

In practice

Example use cases

This quote is perfect for a motivational speech at a school assembly to encourage students to face their fears.

More from Viktor E. Frankl

Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.
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The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear anymore—except his God.
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Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
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It is the pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.
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Logotherapy sees the human patient in all his humanness. I step up to the core of the patient's being. And that is a being in search of meaning, a being that is transcending himself, a being capable of acting in love for others.
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The more one forgives himself - by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love - the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.
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