William Burroughs on fear:

"Never fight fear head-on. ... Let it in and look at it.   What shape is it?  What color?  Let it wash through you.  Move back and hang on.  Pretend it isn't there.  Get trivial.  ... There are many ways to distance yourself from fear.  Keep silence and let fear talk.  You will see it by what it does.  Death doesn't like to be seen that close.  Death must always elicit surprised recognition: 'You!'  The last person you expected to see, and at the same time, who else?  When de Gaulle, after an unsuccessful machine-gun attack on his car, brushed splintered glass off his shoulder and said, 'Encore!,' Death couldn't touch him."
—The Western Lands