A word does not frighten the man who, in acting, feels no fear.

Threats and taunts only work on people who are already afraid of what the words point to. Somebody who has faced the thing itself, who has acted while the danger was real, tends to find talk about danger oddly weightless. Words borrow their force from the fear they can wake up.

When someone’s remark rattles you, ask what fear it touched. The words themselves cannot do much; the thing you are afraid of is where the power lies. Facing that directly, even in a small way, tends to take the sting out of everything said about it.