Good men have the fewest fears. He has but one great fear who fears to do wrong he has a thousand who has overcome it.

Bovee contrasts two kinds of fear: the moral fear of committing wrongdoing, and the anxious, multiplying fears that follow once conscience is ignored. A “good” person, in this view, is not fearless in the sense of being reckless; rather, he is governed by a single, clarifying restraint—fear of doing wrong—which simplifies life and steadies judgment. By contrast, someone who has “overcome” (i.e., silenced) that moral check becomes vulnerable to countless secondary fears: exposure, retaliation, loss of reputation, and the inner unease that comes from knowing one’s actions are indefensible. The aphorism frames integrity as a source of psychological freedom.