who said there is nothing to fear but fear itself

The line “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” was said by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1933.

Who Said It?

• The famous phrase comes from Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States.

• He used it as part of his first inaugural speech as he took office during the depths of the Great Depression.

The Full Original Line

Roosevelt’s fuller wording was:

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

• This line appears near the beginning of the speech and sets the tone of calm and resolve.

• It framed fear itself as the main enemy, not just the economic crisis.

Historical Context

• The quote was delivered in 1933 when the United States was suffering massive unemployment, bank failures, and widespread anxiety after the 1929 stock market crash.

• Roosevelt used the phrase to reassure Americans that panic could make the crisis worse by paralyzing action and confidence.

Earlier Roots of the Idea

• While Roosevelt made the line famous, similar ideas had appeared earlier, such as Michel de Montaigne’s phrase that nothing is terrible except fear itself and Henry David Thoreau’s “Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.”

• These earlier formulations show that the concept of fear being more dangerous than its object has a long intellectual history, even though the iconic modern wording belongs to Roosevelt.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.