What does you have nothing to fear but fear itself mean?

Answer 1

It means the only thing you should be afraid of is being too afraid to act, too afraid to try, too afraid to speak out against injustice. When you're always weighing the pros and cons and coming up with more cons than pros, to the point where you're in a constant state of inertia, you will never accomplish anything in your life that has any meaning for you. Then, right before you die, when you look back on your life and you realize you never accomplished any great things that would have meant something to you, and you realize what a waste it all was, you will understand the high price you paid because you let your fears control you.