who said there is nothing to fear but fear itself

The phrase “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” originates from Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was delivered during his first inaugural address on March 4, 1933, as a rallying line to reassure a nation gripped by the Great Depression. While Roosevelt popularized the expression, the idea itself traces back earlier thinkers, and debates about the exact wording and sources have circulated for years. Nonetheless, the widely cited attribution remains to FDR’s inaugural speech, with some discussions noting potential influences or prior phrasing by writers such as Montaigne and Bacon, though those attributions are less direct in the historical record.