I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

Rosa Parks is widely quoted reflecting on the relationship between resolve and fear in the context of her long civil-rights activism. Parks became an international symbol of resistance after her arrest on December 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus—an act that helped catalyze the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In later years, in interviews and memoir writing, she emphasized that her action was not impulsive but grounded in years of experience with racial injustice and organized activism. The quotation is typically presented as a retrospective lesson: once she committed herself to a course of action she believed was right, fear receded.

The quotation frames courage not as the absence of fear but as a product of moral clarity and decision. Parks suggests that fear thrives in uncertainty—when one is wavering, imagining consequences, or searching for alternatives. Once the mind is “made up,” action becomes a duty rather than a gamble, and fear loses its power. The line also counters myths that portray her as merely tired or accidentally heroic: it emphasizes deliberation, ethical conviction, and disciplined self-possession. In a broader sense, it offers a philosophy of resistance—commitment to what “must be done” can transform private anxiety into public action.