Friday Philosophy

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) was a Scottish historian and sociologist. Here's something from a lecture he delivered in 1840, which retains some contemporary relevance:

"The first duty of man is that of subduing fear.
We must get rid of fear; we cannot act at all till then.
A man's acts are slavish, not true but specious;
his very thoughts are false, he thinks too as a slave
and coward, till he has got fear under his feet."