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The reason for the similarity may simply be that it is a commonplace thought, neither unique to nor original with Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Yale Book of Quotations gives these examples:

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1580):

C'est dequoy j'ay le plus de peur que la peur.
The thing I fear the most is fear.

Francis Bacon (1623):

Nothing is terrible except fear itself.

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1831):

The only thing I am afraid of is fear.

Henry David Thoreau (1851):

Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933):

Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

The reason for the similarity may simply be that it is a commonplace thought, neither unique to nor original with Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Yale Book of Quotations gives these examples:

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1580):

C'est dequoy j'ay le plus de peur que la peur.
The thing I fear the most is fear.

Francis Bacon (1623):

Nothing is terrible except fear itself.

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1831):

The only thing I am afraid of is fear.

Henry David Thoreau (1851):

Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933):

Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

The reason for the similarity may simply be that it is a commonplace thought, neither unique to nor original with Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Yale Book of Quotations gives these examples:

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1580):

C'est dequoy j'ay le plus de peur que la peur.
The thing I fear the most is fear.

Francis Bacon (1623):

Nothing is terrible except fear itself.

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1831):

The only thing I am afraid of is fear.

Henry David Thoreau (1851):

Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933):

Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

The reason for the similarity may simply be that it is a commonplace thought, neither unique to nor original with Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Yale Book of Quotations gives these examples:

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1580):

C'est dequoy j'ay le plus de peur que la peur.
The thing I fear the most is fear.

Francis Bacon (1623):

Nothing is terrible except fear itself.

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1831):

The only thing I am afraid of is fear.

Henry David Thoreau (1851):

Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933):

Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

The reason for the similarity may simply be that it is a commonplace thought, neither unique to nor original with Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Yale Book of Quotations gives these examples:

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1580):

C'est dequoy j'ay le plus de peur que la peur.
The thing I fear the most is fear.

Francis Bacon (1623):

Nothing is terrible except fear itself.

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1831):

The only thing I am afraid of is fear.

Henry David Thoreau (1851):

Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933):

Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

The reason for the similarity may simply be that it is a commonplace thought, neither unique to nor original with Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Yale Book of Quotations gives these examples:

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1580):

C'est dequoy j'ay le plus de peur que la peur.
The thing I fear the most is fear.

Francis Bacon (1623):

Nothing is terrible except fear itself.

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1831):

The only thing I am afraid of is fear.

Henry David Thoreau (1851):

Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933):

Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.