Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman.

The line frames fear not as a momentary emotion but as a corrosive, contagious condition—something that progressively undermines rational judgment (“eats away at logic”) and erodes moral regard for others (“makes man inhuman”). Read this way, fear becomes a root cause of cruelty: when people feel threatened, they may justify irrational beliefs, scapegoating, or violence that they would otherwise reject. The metaphor of disease also implies both spread and treatability: fear can be socially transmitted, but it can also be confronted through courage, empathy, and clear thinking. Attributed to Marian Anderson, it resonates with themes often associated with struggles against prejudice and dehumanization.