I have read about the "fear of success". It pretty just boils down to a fer of change in general, and a fer of having to change one's image of oneself. And, yes, I do think fear holds a lot of people back.

Only in love.

Well, I don't know if I fear success or I self-sabotage. Or that I've had people in my life who were naysayers and doubted my abilities or that I just lacked resources. It's a complicated question because we could all be successful if we were born into wealth and had lots of resources. Being born into a certain social group will more likely aid to your success than being born into a group that struggles. Of course, there are always the exceptions, but the rule Trumps. (I wish it weren't so because there are many, many naturally talented and brilliant people who will never get the chance to shine because they lack resources and then there are lots of unqualified but resource-rich people who end up ruining the country because of social status and wealth. (Tax hikes for the poor and elderly and tax cuts for the rich and powerful. It's called Taxpayer-funded capitalism.)

Do the research.

I am not sure why a person would fear success. I never did.

More a fear of failure, in my case. As the great philosopher Homer J. Simpson once said, "If you never try, you'll never fail."