--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Horror and panic themselves are forms of…" description: "\"Horror and panic themselves are forms of violence, and diminishing them, restricting their dimensions, is itself a civilizing act.\" — Walter Kirn" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01d/walter-kirn-2189_act_horror-and-panic-themselves-are-forms-of_305367.png" --- # Horror and panic themselves are forms of violence, and… ![“Horror and panic themselves are forms of violence, and diminishing them, restricting their dimensions, is itself a civilizing act.” quote by Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01d/walter-kirn-2189_act_horror-and-panic-themselves-are-forms-of_305367.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01d/walter-kirn-2189_act_horror-and-panic-themselves-are-forms-of_305367.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01d/walter-kirn-2189_act_horror-and-panic-themselves-are-forms-of_305367.png) > “Horror and panic themselves are forms of violence, and diminishing them, restricting their dimensions, is itself a civilizing act.” [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Violence includes emotional terror; reducing its scope is a way societies try to civilize themselves. **In simple terms:** Violence includes fear; limiting it is a civilizing effort. Key Takeaway Limit fear to civilize. Themes violence civilization emotion Mood reflective critical Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - media regulation - mental health treatment - public policy - education curricula Key Concepts psychology social control Questions to Reflect On - How does limiting fear affect personal freedom? - Can fear be fully controlled? A Different Perspective Redefining violence may ignore systemic causes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anxiety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anxiety/) [Crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crime/) [Dimensions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dimensions/) [Horror](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horror/) [Panic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/panic/) [Restricting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/restricting/) [Violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violence/) ## Related quotes > [The violence seems to be diminishing. They've stared into the abyss a bit. I think they've all concluded that further violence... is not in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hadley/the-violence-seems-to-be-diminishing-they-ve-stared-into-the-abyss-a/) [Stephen Hadley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hadley/) > [Technology, ideology, and social and cultural changes periodically throw out new forms of violence for humanity to contend with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/technology-ideology-and-social-and-cultural-changes-periodically/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [The decline of violence isn't a steady inclined plane from an original state of maximal and universal bloodshed. Technology, ideology, and social and cultural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-decline-of-violence-isn-t-a-steady-inclined-plane-from-an/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [All forms of violence are quests for identity. When you live on the frontier, you have no identity. You're a nobody.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/all-forms-of-violence-are-quests-for-identity-when-you-live-on-the/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Wine is a civilizing agent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/wine-is-a-civilizing-agent/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) > [“Cas Wouters, inspired by conversations with Elias late in his life, suggests that we are living through a new phase in the Civilizing Process.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/cas-wouters-inspired-by-conversations-with-elias-late-in-his-life/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [The major civilizing force in the world is not religion, it is sex.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-hefner/the-major-civilizing-force-in-the-world-is-not-religion-it-is-sex/) [Hugh Hefner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-hefner/) > [In the development of mankind as a whole, just as in individuals, love alone acts as the civilizing factor in the sense that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/in-the-development-of-mankind-as-a-whole-just-as-in-individuals-love/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [And in the development of mankind as a whole, just as in individuals, love alone acts as a civilizing factor in the sense that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/and-in-the-development-of-mankind-as-a-whole-just-as-in-individuals/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [The great achievement of the Catholic Church lay in harmonizing, civilizing the deepest impulses of ordinary, ignorant people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/the-great-achievement-of-the-catholic-church-lay-in-harmonizing/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Since civilizing children takes the better part of two decades--some twenty years of nonstop thinking, nurturing, teaching, coaxing, rewarding, forgiving, warning, punishing, sympathizing, apologizing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-blakely/since-civilizing-children-takes-the-better-part-of-two-decades-some/) [Mary Blakely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-blakely/) > [Law is the great civilizing machinery. It liberates the desire to build and subdues the desire to destroy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/law-is-the-great-civilizing-machinery-it-liberates-the-desire-to/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) > [The objective of civilizing us is to make Indian history become our permanent reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-trudell/the-objective-of-civilizing-us-is-to-make-indian-history-become-our/) [John Trudell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-trudell/) > [I think it's likely that the civilizing effect of literature has done most of the work, and still continues to do. Look at Steven…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/i-think-it-s-likely-that-the-civilizing-effect-of-literature-has-done/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [Christianity is the greatest civilizing, moulding, uplifting power on this globe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-hopkins/christianity-is-the-greatest-civilizing-moulding-uplifting-power-on/) [Mark Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-hopkins/) ## More by Walter Kirn > [Everyone loves a witch hunt as long as it's someone else's witch being hunted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/everyone-loves-a-witch-hunt-as-long-as-it-s-someone-else-s-witch/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [“I just wasn't ready for his stories. They'd breed with the others I'd heard and hatch new monsters, because there was no such thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/i-just-wasn-t-ready-for-his-stories-they-d-breed-with-the-others-i-d/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [It's no accident that most self-help groups use 'anonymous' in their names; to Americans, the first step toward redemption is a ritual wiping out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/it-s-no-accident-that-most-self-help-groups-use-anonymous-in-their/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [“For time to pass it would have to go somewhere, and where would that be? Time sits. We move, it sits. Sometimes it trembles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/for-time-to-pass-it-would-have-to-go-somewhere-and-where-would-that/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [Once you realize just the sort of glut of books that exists out there, it does become incumbent on you not to add to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/once-you-realize-just-the-sort-of-glut-of-books-that-exists-out-there/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [There are two sides to me. One is the writer. That's a savage person who looks at everything as a story and, you know,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/there-are-two-sides-to-me-one-is-the-writer-that-s-a-savage-person/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [I remember the first time I went to Italy when I was eighteen, I was in Florence and there were all these eighteen, nineteen,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/i-remember-the-first-time-i-went-to-italy-when-i-was-eighteen-i-was/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [Quiet cunning bested boastful brawn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/quiet-cunning-bested-boastful-brawn/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [The idea that Americans favor politicians who either remind them of themselves or can imagine what their selves are like because they too have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/the-idea-that-americans-favor-politicians-who-either-remind-them-of/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [“Our habit of wishing backward from what is to what might have been is the soft but persistent tapping that cracks the crystal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/our-habit-of-wishing-backward-from-what-is-to-what-might-have-been-is/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [Memo to extreme partisans: If you can't bring yourselves to love your enemies, can you at least learn to hate your friends?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/memo-to-extreme-partisans-if-you-can-t-bring-yourselves-to-love-your/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [People can be so neglectful of each other and of their own heritage - then death intrudes. Conversations we wish that we'd had earlier…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/people-can-be-so-neglectful-of-each-other-and-of-their-own-heritage/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [I'd assumed that a deal was a deal when Princeton admitted me, but I was wrong. The price of getting in - to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/i-d-assumed-that-a-deal-was-a-deal-when-princeton-admitted-me-but-i/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [The reason that last-ditch political maneuvering has become business as usual in Washington is that the actors involved are drunk on blame and are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/the-reason-that-last-ditch-political-maneuvering-has-become-business/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [“Meanness on request isn't meanness at all, but kindness carried too far.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/meanness-on-request-isn-t-meanness-at-all-but-kindness-carried-too-far/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) [Explore all 177 Walter Kirn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) ## More Act quotes > [I once told someone I could act. They totally bought it. 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If I tried it out and thought I'd be OK,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-fimmel/people-take-years-learning-how-to-act-it-s-a-skill-not-just-a-job-if/) [Travis Fimmel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/travis-fimmel/) > [Self-discipline is an act of cultivation. It require you to connect today's actions to tomorrow's results. There's a season for sowing a season for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-ryan-blair/self-discipline-is-an-act-of-cultivation-it-require-you-to-connect/) [Gary Ryan Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-ryan-blair/) > [“Don’t turn your face away. Once you’ve seen, you can no longer act like you don’t know. Open your eyes to the truth. It’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vashti-quiroz-vega/don-t-turn-your-face-away-once-you-ve-seen-you-can-no-longer-act-like/) Vashti Quiroz-Vega > [I always advise people not to act upon the advice that I give them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/i-always-advise-people-not-to-act-upon-the-advice-that-i-give-them/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [I have no interest in watching myself act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-wesley/i-have-no-interest-in-watching-myself-act/) [Paul Wesley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-wesley/) > [“Don't wait, just sweat.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/don-t-wait-just-sweat/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [I do believe some people can naturally act and don't know it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-arnold/i-do-believe-some-people-can-naturally-act-and-don-t-know-it/) [Andrea Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-arnold/) > [Regardless of what I do, whether I write a book or whether I act or whether I host, I'll always do stand-up comedy because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howie-mandel/regardless-of-what-i-do-whether-i-write-a-book-or-whether-i-act-or/) [Howie Mandel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howie-mandel/) > [On 'Workaholics,' I feel like I'm just hanging out with my buddies being filmed, but on 'Mindy,' I'm around professional funny people who act.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anders-holm/on-workaholics-i-feel-like-i-m-just-hanging-out-with-my-buddies-being/) [Anders Holm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anders-holm/) > [I'm not an artist, and I want to take risks, and when the possibility of failure occurs, it's because the idea is all exciting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-morgan/i-m-not-an-artist-and-i-want-to-take-risks-and-when-the-possibility/) [Peter Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-morgan/) 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