Fear factor is a common presence in our lives, often acting as a barrier that hinders our progress and decision-making capabilities. Those who want to dominate others and cause them to submit them to their dictates, control and power design laws and policies and build institutions geared towards making them as fearful as possible.

So, to such people, fear is a resource and are powerless without it. To conquer fear the weapon is courage with faith.

Courage is less of an innate character strength than it is a skill; an individual can intentionally develop courage when the right skills are in place. Courage is defined as having four components: action needs an uncertain outcome; (Kerfell 2019 citing Professor Dawson). Then there is a physical, psychological and moral dimension to courage (Kerfell 2019 citing Professor Dawson)

Indeed, Aristotle believed courage to be the most important quality in a man. “Courage is the first of human virtues because it makes all others possible,” he wrote.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear,” wrote Mark Twain in this novel Pudd’nhead Wilson. In other words, having courage isn’t about being fearless. It is about being able to overcome, control and manage your fear.

Today, however, courage is one of the more neglected areas of positive psychology, but recent research has begun to move toward an understanding of what courage is and how we might be able to cultivate the ability to face our fear and make decisions with greater fortitude (Gregoire, 2021). Yet being able to overcome fears, or at least manage them better, is, therefore, key to showing resilience in the face of a feared challenge (Synaptic Potential).

In this article, I want to demonstrate how courage has helped me to wade through otherwise fear-filled situations and even develop my capacity to write extensively on topics that many of my contemporaries would never venture to write. Courage has enabled me not only to build my intellectual capacities and influence mind. Perhaps far more than anyone of my contemporaries I have contributed to building a more open and democratic society in Uganda using the power of the pen.

Just like one writer said of himself, “I’ve been called fearless many times, but that’s simply not true. I have been riddled with fear more times than I can possibly count, and suffered from anxiety. I actually have more fear than I should. Making it more challenging is that most of that fear is completely irrational”.

“In a way, fear has been a survival tool for me, not only helping me to develop courage but also to march on where others failed and succumbed to death earlier than they should have.”

And God the Creator says: “I did not give you a spirit of fear but courage.” Therefore, if you allow fear to displace or block courage, you are sabotaging God’s plan for you. You are also sabotaging yourself. You are glorifying the cause of fear, whatever it is and helping that cause to continue to dominate you well in the future. You cannot influence anything or be an agent of change, yet life is about nothing but influence and change. If you cannot influence and contribute meaningfully and effectively to change because of fear then you have wasted time on Earth.

It is impossible to liberate oneself or others if you are a chimney of fear. All those who ever liberated themselves or others had one quality: the quality of courage. They knew that they had to liberate themselves whenever they were seized by fear.

It is courage that defeats and conquers fear. A determined people armed with courage can defeat armies with arsenals of mass destruction. This is why a writer armed with only a pen can liberate generations of human beings.

Indeed, French militarist Napoleon Bonaparte said: “I would rather be attacked by 1000 men with guns than one man with a pen.”

When I was young in the 1950s, I loved to go to the forest alone not only to eat fruits but also to know what plants and animals live there. I could not name them like biblical Adam did, but I was fascinated by their diversity. Just observing the flowers and birds was enough to fascinate me. The silence in the forests, only interrupted by the different songs of birds, offered me opportunity to diversify my own thinking when there were no other humans with me. Had all the courage and no fear. I think this is how my hatred for fear and love for courage began to develop. This attitude developed more and more as I grew up. Fear is the greatest water of time, energy and opportunities for change.

On July 27, 2025, I turned 76. Let me use this opportunity to reflect on some episodes of courage that contributed to dispelling fear out of me and replacing it with courage. I have already told you how my incursions in the forests helped to make the courageous me instead of the fearful me.

Episode One: Many children in Nawaka village, Ikumbya sub-county, Luuka County, Busoga, assembled around a tall pawpaw tree. They wanted to eat the many ripe fruits it carried. My brother Davis and I were among the children. Virtually all the children, including my brother, feared to climb the tree. I too, initially feared, but then I said to myself “If we all fear then how will we manage to eat the fruits?” Then I announced, “I will climb.” They clapped and jumped in excitement. It was a sign of encouragement but the risk was high. I started climbing, and the more I climbed the more courageous I became. The tree swung from one side to another, but I did not give up.

Unfortunately, when I plucked the first pawpaw from the tree, I was not careful. The sap dropped directly into my left eye. It caused a lot of pain in the eye. I started to cry. The children that were spurring me on run away, leaving only my brother at the site. My brother told me to come down slowly, which I did until I reached the base of the tree. My brother guided home.

Fortunately, my father, the late Charles Afunaduula Ovuma Ngobi, who had been a medical assistant during the colonial administration, was at home. He asked what happened. Without fear I told him. He started to wash my eye with water and did so many times. Then he applied some medicine and told me to go to bed. I was not happy with the idea of going to bed in the morning because he had conditioned us to go to bed at 6 pm every day. He did not tell me to stop climbing trees.

Episode Two: I woke up early in the morning to pick some mangoes before I prepared myself to go to school. I was in primary two at Ikumbya Primary School. I did not tell anyone that I was getting out for mangoes. Unfortunately, the big mango tree, which used to be a source of mangoes for the whole village, did not have any mangoes underneath, some people must have woken up earlier than me and taken all the mangoes. I decided to go to another tree. Even there, I did not find any mangoes. Very quickly I decided to climb after seeing there were so many mangoes on the tree. I did not expect any danger on the branches of the tree on a very cold morning. However, when I looked up, there was a huge black snake, most likely a black mamba, gazing at me as I went up. I did not proceed. I did not exude fear of the creature, although it was less than four feet from my head. It looked at me and I looked at it.

I realised it had more right to be on the tree than myself. So, I decided to courageously withdraw without any mangoes and rush home to prepare to walk to school through the forests, which the school-attending children did every day from Monday to Friday, unless it was a public holiday. However, during the British colonial days there were fewer public holidays than we have these days. If I remember well, it was only the Queen’s birthday, Easter and Christ mans.

Episode Three: I was working as a research zoologist in Ruaha National Park in Tanzania in 1977 after the collapse of my employer, the East African Community (EAC) in which I worked as a Fisheries Research Officer in the East African Marine Fisheries Research Organisation (EAMFRO). One day at about 6 pm, I decided to drive to Park Airstrip, which was five miles away from the park headquarters, alone without a radio call and without a park ranger, who would have carried a gun to protect me from wild animals. It was an act of courage to venture from the headquarters of the park alone and in a vehicle, a Land Rover, which was not mechanically reliable.

In fact, the battery of the vehicle was foully and could just give in. That is what it did when I reached the flat airstrip. The vehicle stopped idling at around 7 pm. There was little or nothing I could do. Simply, I was in trouble but remained strong. Without getting out of the vehicle I surveyed the area with my eyes. On my left there were wild animals of different species assembled together as if they were conferring on something. On the left, just a few yards from the vehicle, there was a lion and lioness, each lying on its right side and looking at me, or for that matter the vehicle. We looked at each other for some minutes. Then, surprisingly, the lioness, which is the hunter for the pride of lions, decided to walk away in the direction, which I did not come from. After sometime the lion followed the lioness, leaving me alone helpless but with a huge assembly of animals they should have eaten if they wanted food for themselves.

 It was getting darker. I said to myself, “If those fellows wanted to eat me, they would wait until I got out of the vehicle. But why me when there are so many animals on the other side to choose from? They must be having full stomachs already! In fact, lions can spend four days after a previous meal without eating. At about 7.30 pm I decided to get out of the vehicle and start walking back to the headquarters of the park. I courageously walked the five miles through the wild.

Nothing touched me. God was my security. I arrived at the headquarters at about 11 pm. I found all the workers of the park assembled in one place and discussing my disappearance. They did not know where to start looking for me because I had not told anyone where I was going. They were relieved when they saw me. Senior Park Warden San Msese warned me never to go into the wilds alone without a park ranger and without a radio call. I did not listen.

Episode Four: I decided to venture into the wild alone again without a park ranger and without a radio call this time. However, it was in the morning and in a Land Cruiser, which I had just received from the headquarters of the Tanzania National Parks in Arusha. I wanted to go and watch buffaloes wallowing in a swamp as birds harvested ticks on their bodies. Along the way I decided to stop near a small thicket to check on a plant I did not know. I got out of the vehicle and walked towards the thicket just behind an anthill. When I reached the plant, there was a pack of wild dogs. I counted 12. I looked at them and they looked at me. Here was no fear in me although I had read European books recording that wild dogs are savage; that they can eat a whole zebra in less than three minutes.

After gazing at each other for some minutes, one of the wild dogs, who could have been their leader, decided to withdraw deeper in the thicket. The others followed and I was left alone I concluded that even if wild dogs are fierce, they will not just attack any human being. I even condemned the whites who decided to commit genocide against wild dog throughout East Africa.

Therefore, courage does not just come to anyone. It comes out of experience in the environment and how one makes decisions while interacting with the environment, in the environment and with other human beings. That is why it is said that experience is the best teacher.

Let me end this article with some Conquer Fear Quotes in the hope that they will equip all of us with the courage to conquer fear and make us victorious in life.

Conquer Fear Quotes:

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood – Marie Curie

Fear is met and destroyed with courage –James F. Bell

Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear – William Congreve

Willpower is the key to success. Successful people strive no matter what they feel by applying their will to overcome apathy, doubt or fear – Dan Millman

One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do – Henry Ford

The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but it is fear – Gandhi

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom – Bertrand Russell

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you –Eric Hoffer

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself – Franklin D. Roosevelt

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear – Nelson Mandela

People who lack the clarity, courage or determination to fulfill a dream will always surrender to fear and wonder what happened – Germany Kent

Confront your fears, list them, get to know them, and only then will you be able to put them aside and move ahead – Jerry Gille

Courage is feeling fear, not getting rid of fear, knowing something is more important than fear and taking action in the face of fear – Roy Bennett

Courage is looking fear in the eye and saying… bring it – Kevin Anytime

It’s an act of courage whenever you make the decision to accept responsibility for every choice and decision you make – Ruth Soukup in Do It Scared: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Adversity, and Create a Life You Love

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go – T. S. Eliot

The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart – Robert Green Ingersoll

Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s doing what you want in spite of the fear.

Your Good is not Good Enough Until it is Your Best

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear – Mark Twain

Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity – Unknown

You can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both – Brene Brown

Courage does not always roar, sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow – Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it means acting even when you’re afraid. Courage can manifest in many forms—physical bravery, moral conviction, emotional resilience, and the willingness to stand up for one’s beliefs or help others even when it’s difficult – Brian Reese

Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point – C.S. Lewis

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

“You will never do anything in this world without courage.” – Aristotle

 “All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” ~Walt Disney

“Embracing vulnerability and nurturing courage are not merely abstract concepts but transformative practices that can empower us to confront fear and self-doubt head-on – Helen Robinett, 2023.

Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm – Winston Churchill

Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts – Winston Churchill

Courage is conquering fear to realise your true potential – Gostick, Adrian and Chester Elton

You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore – Christopher Columbus

All you need is the plan, the road map, ant the courage to press on to your destination – Earl Nightingale

Do the thing you fear, and continue to do so. This is the quickest and surest way of all victory over fear – Dale Carnegie

You get in life what you have the courage to ask for – Oprah Winfrey

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? – Vincent Van Gogh

 Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage – Anais Nin

Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely – Salim Khan Anmol, Prophet Mohammad and the Jesus: the people and The Almighty

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world –Ralph Waldo Emerson

The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness – Dorothy Thompson

Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death –James F. Byrnes

Fear cuts deeper than swords – George R.R. Martin

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears – Rudyard Kipling

Fear is never a reason for quitting; it is only an excuse – Norman Vincent Peale

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy – Dale Carnegie

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear – Rosa Parks

I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today – William Allen White

Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear – Anthony Robbins

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear – Meg Cabot

For God and my country.

• A Tell report / By Oweyegha-Afunaduula / Environmental Historian and Conservationist Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis (CCTAA), Seeta, Mukono, Uganda.

About the Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis (CCTAA)

The CCTAA was innovated by Hyuha Mukwanason, Oweyegha-Afunaduula and Mahir Balunywa in 2019 to the rising decline in the capacity of graduates in Uganda and beyond to engage in critical thinking and reason coherently besides excellence in academics and academic production. The three scholars were convinced that after academic achievement the world outside the ivory tower needed graduates that can think critically and reason coherently towards making society and the environment better for human gratification. They reasoned between themselves and reached the conclusion that disciplinary education did not only narrow the thinking and reasoning of those exposed to it but restricted the opportunity to excel in critical thinking and reasoning, which are the ultimate aim of education. They were dismayed by the truism that the products of disciplinary education find it difficult to tick outside the boundaries of their disciplines; that when they provide solutions to problems that do not recognise the artificial boundaries between knowledges, their solutions become the new problems. They decided that the answer was a new and different medium of learning and innovating, which they characterised as “The Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis” (CCTAA)

Albom, Mitch (2021). How Courage Conquers Fear Everyday in Haiti. Have Fait Haiti, October 20 2021, https://havefaithhaiti.org/life-at-the-orphanage/how-courage-conquers-fear-every-day-in-haiti Visited on 23 July 2025 at 11:31 am EAT.

Bull, Daniel (?). Conquer Your Greatest Fears and Live Your Dreams. UNSTOPPABULL, https://unstoppabull.com/conquer-your-greatest-fears-live-your-dreams/ Visited on 23 July 2025 at 12:57 pmEAT.

Cornell, Dave (2014). How to Conquer Fear. Cultivate Courage, 21 July 2014, https://cultivatecourage.com/how-to-conquer-fear/ Visited 23 July 2025 at 12.05 pm EAT

Gregoire, Carolyn (2021). The Science of Conquering your fears. Daily Good,  May 19 2021, https://www.dailygood.org/story/622/the-science-of-conquering-your-fears-carolyn-gregoire/ Visited on 23 July 2025 at 10:47 am. EAT.

Guice, Rev. Gregory C. (2009). The Courage to Conquer Fear.: The Seven Spiritual Keys. Xlibris, Corp, July 29 2009 https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Conquer-Fear-Seven-Spiritual/dp/1441549943 Visited on 23 July 2025 at 11:32 am EAT

Kang Vincent (2023). Courage is Conquering Our Fears. KidSpirit, August 31 2023. https://www.kidspiritonline.com/explore/global-beat/courage-is-conquering-our-fears/?_gl=1*15qexs4*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTg2NTQ5MjU5NS4xNzUzMjU1Njg0*_ga_QYF8T4EK9G*czE3NTMyNTU2ODIkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTMyNTU2ODIkajYwJGwwJGgw Visited on 23 July 2025 at 10:33 am EAT.

Kerfell, Bailey (2019). Understanding Fear and Courage. E-Connel Impact, November, 19 2019, https://ecornell-impact.cornell.edu/understanding-fear-and-courage/ Visited on 23 July 2025 at 13:09 pm EAT.

Loleta Abi (2019). How to Overcome Fear as a Writer and Embrace Your Profound Courage. Helping Writers Become Authors, November 18 2019 https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-overcome-fear-as-a-writer-and-embrace-your-profound-courage/ Visited on 23 July 12:51 pm EAT.

Nunes, Fernando (2025). Fear or Courage: The Choice that Defines your Journey Starts Now. Medium, 21 March 2025, https://medium.com/@odnanrefserep/fear-or-courage-the-choice-that-defines-your-journey-begins-now-89df5916efcc Visited on 23 July 2025 11:11 am EAT.

Robinett, Helen (2023). Unlocking Courage and embracing Vulnerability to Conquer Fear, Self-Doubt and Procrastination. Engenesis, 25 July 2023 https://engenesis.com/a/unlocking-courage-and-embracing-vulnerability-to-conquer-fear-selfdoubt-and-procrastination Visited on 23 July 2025 11:01 am EAT.

Synaptic Potential (?).  Courage: Conquering your fear.  Synaptic Potential, https://synapticpotential.com/emotion/courage-conquering-fear/ Visited on 23 July 2025 at 10:56 am EAT.

Westover, Jonathan H (2024).  Facing Fear and Embracing Courage: A Leader’s Guide to Overcoming Anxiety and Driving Innovation. Human capital Leadership Review, Human capital innovations, May 1, 2024 https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/article/facing-fear-and-embracing-courage-a-leader-s-guide-to-overcoming-anxiety-and-driving-innovation Visited on 23 July 2025 at 13 35 pm EAT.

 (Kerfell 2019 citing Professor Dawson) Indeed, Aristotle believed courage to be the most important quality in a man. “Courage is the first of human virtues because it makes all others possible,” he wrote.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear,” wrote Mark Twain in this novel Pudd’nhead Wilson. In other words, having courage isn’t about being fearless. It is about being able to overcome, control and manage your fear.

Today, however, courage is one of the more neglected areas of positive psychology, but recent research has begun to move toward an understanding of what courage is and how we might be able to cultivate the ability to face our fear and make decisions with greater fortitude (Gregoire, 2021). Yet being able to overcome fears, or at least manage them better, is, therefore, key to showing resilience in the face of a feared challenge (Synaptic Potential).

In this article, I want to demonstrate how courage has helped me to wade through otherwise fear-filled situations and even develop my capacity to write extensively on topics that many of my contemporaries would never venture to write. Courage has enabled me not only to build my intellectual capacities and influence mind. Perhaps far more than anyone of my contemporaries I have contributed to building a more open and democratic society in Uganda using the power of the pen.

Just like one writer said of himself, “Ive been called fearless many times, but that’s simply not true. I have been riddled with fear more times than I can possibly count, and suffered from anxiety.  I actually have more fear than I should. Making it more challenging is that most of that fear is completely irrational”.

In a way, fear has been a survival tool for me, not only helping me to develop courage but also to march on where others failed and succumbed to death earlier than they should have.

And God the Creator says “I did not give you a spirit of fear but courage”. Therefore, if you allow fear to displace or block courage, you are sabotaging God’s plan for you. You are also sabotaging your self. You are glorifying the cause of fear, whatever it is, and helping that cause to continue to dominate you well in the future. You cannot influence anything or be an agent of change, yet life is about nothing but influence and change. If you cannot influence and contribute meaningfully and effectively to change because of fear then you have wasted time on Earth.

It is impossible to liberate oneself or others if you are a chimney of fear.  All those who ever liberated themselves or others had one quality: the quality of courage. They knew that they had to liberate themselves whenever they were seized by fear.

It is courage that defeats and conquers fear. A determined people armed with courage can defeat armies armed with arsenals of mass destruction. This is why a writer armed with only a pen can liberate generations of human beings. Indeed, French militarist Napoleon Bona Parte said, “I would rather be attacked by 1000 men with guns than one man with a pen”.

When I was young in the 1950s, I loved to go to the forest alone not only to eat fruits but also to know what plants and animals live there. I could not name them like biblical Adam did, but I was fascinated by their diversity. Just observing the flowers and birds was enough to fascinate me. The silence in the forests, only interrupted by the different songs of birds, offered me opportunity to diversify my own thinking when there were no other humans with me. had all the courage and no fear. I think this is how my hatred for fear and love for courage began to develop. This attitude developed more and more as I grew up. Fear is the greatest waster of time, energy and opportunities for change.

Today 27th July 2025 I have turn ed 76.  Let me use this opportunity to reflect on some episodes of courage that contributed to dispelling fear out of me and replacing it with courage. I have already told you how my incursions in the forests helped to make the courageous me instead of the fearful me.

Episode One: Many children in Nawaka village, Ikumbya subcounty, Luuka County, Busoga, assembled around a tall pawpaw tree. They wanted to eat the many ripe fruits it carried. My brother Davis and myself were among the children. Virtually all the children, including my brother, feared to climb the tree. I too, initially feared, but then I said to myself “If we all fear then how will we manage to eat the fruits?” Then I announced, “I will climb”. They clapped and jumped in excitement. It was a sign of encouragement but the risk was high. I started climbing, and the more I climbed the more courageous I became.  The tree swung from one side to another, but I did not give up. Unfortunately, when I plucked the first pawpaw from the tree, I was not careful. The sap dropped directly into my left eye. It caused a lot of pain in the eye. I started to cry. The children that were spurring me on run away, leaving only my brother at the site. My brother told me to come down slowly, which I did until I reached the base of the tree. My brother guided me to home. Fortunately, my father, the late Charles Afunaduula Ovuma Ngobi, who had been a medical Assistant, was at home.  He asked what happened. Without fear I tod him what happened He started to wash my eye with water and did so many times. The he applied some medicine and told me to go to bed. I was not happy with the idea of going to bed in the morning because he had conditioned us to go to bed at 6 pm everyday. He did not tell me to stop climbing trees.

Episode Two: I woke up early in the morning to pick some mangoes before I prepared myself to go to school. I was in primary two at Ikumbya Primary School. I did not tell anyone that I was getting out for mangoes. Unfortunately, the big mango tree, which used to be a source of mangoes for the whole village, did not have any mangoes underneath, some people must have woken up earlier than me and taken all the mangoes. I decided to go to another tree. Even there, I did not find any mangoes. Very quickly I decided to climb after seeing there were so many mangoes on the tree. I did not expect any danger on the branches of the tree on a very cold morning. However, when I looked up, there was a huge black snake, most likely a black mamba, gazing at me as I went up. I did not proceed. I did not exude fear of the creature, although it was less than four feet from my head. It looked at me and I looked at it. I realised it had more right to be on the tree than myself. So, I decided to courageously withdraw without any mangoes and rush home to prepare to walk to school through the forests, which the school-attending children did everyday from Monday to Friday, unless it was a public holiday. However, during the British colonial days there were fewer public holidays than we have thse days. If I remember well, it was only the Queen’s birthday, Easter and Christ mans.

Episode Three: I was working as a Research Zoologist in Ruaha National Park in Tanzania in 1977 after the collapse of my employer, the East African Community (EAC) in which I worked as a Fisheries Research Officer in the East African Marine Fisheries Research Organisation (EAMFRO). One day at about 6 pm, I decided to drive to Park Airstrip which was 5 miles away from the park headquarters, alone without a radio call and without a park ranger, who would have carried a gun to protect me from wild animals. It was an act of courage to venture from the headquarters of the park alone and in a vehicle, a Land Rover, which was not mechanically reliable. In fact, the battery of the vehicle was foully and could just give in. That is what it did when I reached the flat airstrip. The vehicle stopped idling at around 7 pm. There was little or nothing I could do. Simply, I was in trouble but remained strong. Without getting out of the vehicle I surveyed the area with my eyes. On my left there were wild animals of different species assembled together as if they were conferring on something. On the left, just a few yards from the vehicle, there was a lion and lioness, each lying on its right side and looking at me, or for tht matter the vehicle. We looked at each other for some minutes. Then, surprisingly, the lioness, which is the hunter for the pride of lions, decided to walk away in the direction, which I did not come from. After sometime the lion followed the lioness, leaving me alone helpless but with a huge assembly of animals they should have eaten if they wanted food for themselves. It was getting darker. I said to myself, “If those fellows wanted to eat me, they would wait until I got out of the vehicle. But why me when there are so many animals on the other side to choose from? They must be having full stomachs already! In fact, lions will spend four days after a previous meal without eating. At about 7.30 pm I decided to get out of the vehicle and start walking back to the headquarters of the park. I courageously walked the 5 miles through the wild. Nothing touched me. God was my security. I arrived at the headquarters at about 11 pm. I found all the workers of the Parke assembled in one place and discussing my disappearance. They did not know where to start looking for me because I had not told anyone where I was going. They were relieved when They saw me. The Senior Park Warden, Mr San Msese, warned me never to go to the wild alone without a park ranger and without a radio call. I did not listen.

Episode Four: I decided to venture into the wild alone again, without a park ranger and without a radio call his time, however, it was in the morning and in a Land Cruiser, which I had just received from the Headquarters of the Tanzania National Parks in Arusha. I wanted to go and watch buffaloes wallowing in a swamp while some birds harvested ticks on their bodies. Along the way I decided to stop near a small thicket to check on a plant I did not know. I got out of the vehicle and walk towards the thicket just behind an anthill. When I reached the plant, there was a pack of wild dogs. I counted 12. I looked at them and they looked at me. Here was no fear in me although I had read European books recording that wild dogs are savage; that they can eat a whole zebra in less than three minutes. Ater looking at each other for some minutes, one of the wild dogs, who could have been their leader, decided to withdraw deeper in the thicket. The others followed and I was left alone I concluded that even if wild dogs and fierce, they will not just attack any human being. I even condemned the whites who decided to commit genocide against wild dog throughout East Africa.

Therefore, courage does not just come to anyone. It comes out of experience in the environment and how one makes decisions while interacting with the environment, in the environment and with other human beings. That is why it is said that experience is the best teacher.

Let me end this article with some Conquer Fear Quotes with the hope that they will equip all of us with the courage to conquer fear and make us victorious in life.

Conquer Fear Quotes

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”–Marie Curie

“Fear is met and destroyed with courage.”–James F. Bell

“Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear.”–William Congreve

“Willpower is the key to success. Successful people strive no matter what they feel by applying their will to overcome apathy, doubt or fear.”–Dan Millman

“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.”–Henry Ford

“The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but it is fear.”–Gandhi

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.”–Bertrand Russell

“You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.”–Eric Hoffer

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”–Franklin D. Roosevelt

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

— Nelson Mandela

“People who lack the clarity, courage, or determination to fulfill a dream will always surrender to fear and wonder what happened.”

― Germany Kent

“Confront your fears, list them, get to know them, and only then will you be able to put them aside and move ahead.”–Jerry Gille

“Courage is feeling fear, not getting rid of fear, knowing something is more important than fear and taking action in the face of fear.”

― Roy Bennett

“Courage is looking fear in the eye and saying… bring it”

― Kevin Anytime

“It’s an act of courage whenever you make the decision to accept responsibility for every choice and decision you make.”

― Ruth Soukup, Do It Scared: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Adversity, and Create a Life You Love

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

— T. S. Eliot

The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.

–           Robert Green Ingersoll

“Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s doing what you want in spite of the fear”.

“Your Good is not Good Enough Until it is Your Best”

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”

~Mark Twain

“Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity.”

~Unknown

“You can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both.”

~Brene Brown

“Courage does not always roar, sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow.”

~Mary Anne Radmacher

“Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it means acting even when you’re afraid. Courage can manifest in many forms—physical bravery, moral conviction, emotional resilience, and the willingness to stand up for one’s beliefs or help others even when it’s difficult.”

― Brian Reese

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” ~C.S. Lewis

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

“You will never do anything in this world without courage.” – Aristotle

 “All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” ~Walt Disney

“Embracing vulnerability and nurturing courage are not merely abstract concepts but transformative practices that can empower us to confront fear and self-doubt head-on – Helen Robinett, 2023.

“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” ~Winston Churchill

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

“Courage is Conquering Fear to Realise your True Potential”. – Gostick, Adrian and Chester Elton

“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” ~Christopher Columbus

“All you need is the plan, the road map, ant the courage to press on to your destination.” ~Earl Nightingale

“Do the thing you fear, and continue to do so. This is the quickest and surest way of all victory over fear.” ~Dale Carnegie

“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” ~Oprah Winfrey

“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” ~Vincent Van Gogh

 “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” ~Anais Nin

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”

― Salim Khan Anmol, Prophet Mohammad and the Jesus: the people and The Almighty

“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness.”–Dorothy Thompson

“Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death.”–James F. Byrnes

“Fear cuts deeper than swords.”–George R.R. Martin

“Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears.”–Rudyard Kipling

“Fear is never a reason for quitting; it is only an excuse.”–Norman Vincent Peale

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”–Dale Carnegie

“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”–Rosa Parks

“I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.”–William Allen White

“Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear.”–Anthony Robbins

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.”–Meg Cabot

For God and My Country

Further Reading

Albom, Mitch (2021). How Courage Conquers Fear Everyday in Haiti. Have Fait Haiti, October 20 2021, https://havefaithhaiti.org/life-at-the-orphanage/how-courage-conquers-fear-every-day-in-haiti Visited on 23 July 2025 at 11:31 am EAT.

Bull, Daniel (?). Conquer Your Greatest Fears and Live Your Dreams. UNSTOPPABULL, https://unstoppabull.com/conquer-your-greatest-fears-live-your-dreams/ Visited on 23 July 2025 at 12:57 pmEAT.

Cornell, Dave (2014). How to Conquer Fear. Cultivate Courage, 21 July 2014, https://cultivatecourage.com/how-to-conquer-fear/ Visited 23 July 2025 at 12.05 pm EAT

Gregoire, Carolyn (2021). The Science of Conquering your fears. Daily Good,  May 19 2021, https://www.dailygood.org/story/622/the-science-of-conquering-your-fears-carolyn-gregoire/ Visited on 23 July 2025 at 10:47 am. EAT.

Guice, Rev. Gregory C. (2009). The Courage to Conquer Fear.: The Seven Spiritual Keys. Xlibris, Corp, July 29 2009 https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Conquer-Fear-Seven-Spiritual/dp/1441549943 Visited on 23 July 2025 at 11:32 am EAT

Kang Vincent (2023). Courage is Conquering Our Fears. KidSpirit, August 31 2023. https://www.kidspiritonline.com/explore/global-beat/courage-is-conquering-our-fears/?_gl=1*15qexs4*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTg2NTQ5MjU5NS4xNzUzMjU1Njg0*_ga_QYF8T4EK9G*czE3NTMyNTU2ODIkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTMyNTU2ODIkajYwJGwwJGgw Visited on 23 July 2025 at 10:33 am EAT.

Kerfell, Bailey (2019). Understanding Fear and Courage. E-Connel Impact, November, 19 2019, https://ecornell-impact.cornell.edu/understanding-fear-and-courage/ Visited on 23 July 2025 at 13:09 pm EAT.

Loleta Abi (2019). How to Overcome Fear as a Writer and Embrace Your Profound Courage. Helping Writers Become Authors, November 18 2019 https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-overcome-fear-as-a-writer-and-embrace-your-profound-courage/ Visited on 23 July 12:51 pm EAT.

Nunes, Fernando (2025). Fear or Courage: The Choice that Defines your Journey Starts Now. Medium, 21 March 2025, https://medium.com/@odnanrefserep/fear-or-courage-the-choice-that-defines-your-journey-begins-now-89df5916efcc Visited on 23 July 2025 11:11 am EAT.

Robinett, Helen (2023). Unlocking Courage and embracing Vulnerability to Conquer Fear, Self-Doubt and Procrastination. Engenesis, 25 July 2023 https://engenesis.com/a/unlocking-courage-and-embracing-vulnerability-to-conquer-fear-selfdoubt-and-procrastination Visited on 23 July 2025 11:01 am EAT.

Synaptic Potential (?).  Courage: Conquering your fear.  Synaptic Potential, https://synapticpotential.com/emotion/courage-conquering-fear/ Visited on 23 July 2025 at 10:56 am EAT.

Westover, Jonathan H (2024).  Facing Fear and Embracing Courage: A Leader’s Guide to Overcoming Anxiety and Driving Innovation. Human capital Leadership Review, Human capital innovations, May 1, 2024 https://www.innovativehumancapital.com/article/facing-fear-and-embracing-courage-a-leader-s-guide-to-overcoming-anxiety-and-driving-innovation Visited on 23 July 2025 at 13 35 pm EAT.