The Effects of Fear

Fear makes a person shrink into himself; it is a kind of contracting of the appetites.

Fear drives a man to seek advice and direction, for the dread of impending evil takes away self-confidence and self-reliance.

In the body, fear manifests itself by trembling, pallor, nervousness, and other types of agitation.

Unless fear be so great as to deprive a person, momentarily, of the use of reason, it does not remove the person’s responsibility for his acts. Fear indeed may have effects which interfere with bodily action; trembling hands may be ineffective, quaking knees may not support the body. But fear, short of that which takes away reason, cannot directly affect the intellect and will. Indeed, a moderate fear is a stimulus to the mind.