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The most famous phrase from Franklin D. Roosevelt's first inaugural address in March 1933 "... the only thing we have to fear is fear itself..." was an adaptation of American writer Henry David Thoreau's musings of "Nothing is so much to be feared as fear" in a1852 book. Franklin and aides had the book as his speech was written. Of course, Thoreau's thoughts were likely inspired by the Duke of Wellington 1832 words "The only thing I am afraid of is fear" which at least were preceded by Francis Bacon in 1623 "Nothing is terrible except fear itself", and "The thing of which I have most to fear is fear" by Michel de Montaigne in 1580.

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14y ago

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