I also know about running away," I said, "when staying around is so much harder. And I know the happiness, the"-I searched for a word and had to settle on- "the joy when sticking around and fighting things mean I get to keep the people I love near me.

I also know about running away," I said, when staying around is so much harder. And I know the happiness, the"-I searched for a word and had to settle on- "the joy when sticking around and fighting things mean I get to keep the people I love near me.

There is time for a fight and a time for a flight; knowing the right time to do one or the other can mean the difference between life and death

The terrifying fear of a crash had triggered the fight-or-flight response in the child, making him burn a mule, but only he knew about it—thanks to his tight and reliable underpants.

The detection of a person as safe or dangerous triggers neurobiologically determined pro-social or defensive behaviors.
Even though we may not always be aware of danger on a cognitive level, on a neurophysiological level, our body has already started a sequence of neural processes that would facilitate adaptive defense behaviors such as fight, flight or freeze. 

He tried to decide if he was really ashamed of being afraid, and decided that he was not. Fear was there for a purpose. It was wired into any creature that had not completely turned its back on its evolutionary inheritance and so remade itself in whatever image it coveted. The more sophisticated you became, the less you relied on fear and pain to keep you alive; you could afford to ignore them because you had other means of coping with the consequences if things went badly.