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About this quote

What does it mean?
Bush asserts that fear cannot be eliminated but can be managed through reason and calm evaluation.
In plain terms
You can't remove fear, but you can control it using reason.
What can you take from it?
Reasoning helps manage fear and prevents panic.

Where it applies

  • crisis response
  • mental health
  • leadership

Putting it to work

  • decision making
  • stress management
  • conflict resolution

Questions to consider

  • How do we train ourselves to reason under pressure?
  • When is fear useful?

Another view

Reason may not always override deep physiological or traumatic fear responses.

More from Vannevar Bush

  1. All my life, which has now lasted something under one hundred years, I have observed managers in action: in government, in universities, , and in industry, and…

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  2. My whole philosophy on this sort of thing is very simple. If I have any doubt as to whether I am supposed to do a job or not, I do it, and if someone socks me,…

    Permalink to quote #56
  3. That the threat is now intense is not a reason to abandon our quest for knowledge. It is a reason to hold it more tightly, in spite of the need for action to p…

    Permalink to quote #53

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