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Courage

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Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else. ~ Maya Angelou
Have courage to use your own understanding! ~ Immanuel Kant

Courage, also called fortitude, is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. It can be divided into "physical courage" — in face of physical pain, hardship, and threat of death — and "moral courage" — in the face of shame, scandal, and discouragement.

Arranged alphabetically by author or source:
A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z · Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations · Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895) · See also · External links

E

  • Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.
    The soul that knows it not, know no release
    From little things;
    Knows not the livid loneliness of fear,
    Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear
    The sound of wings.
  • Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
    • Actually written by E. F. Schumacher in a 1973 essay titled "Small is Beautiful" which appeared in The Radical Humanist: volume 37, p. 22. Earliest published source found on Google Books attributing this to Einstein is BMJ: The British Medical Journal, volume 319, 23 October 1999, p. 1102. It was attributed to Einstein on the internet somewhat before that, for example in this 1997 post.
  • Courage charms us, because it indicates that a man loves an idea better than all things in the world, that he is thinking neither of his bed, nor his dinner, nor his money, but will venture all to put in act the invisible thought of his mind.
  • A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.
  • 'Tis said that courage is common, but the immense esteem in which it is held proves it to be rare. Animal resistance, the instinct of the male animal when cornered, is no doubt common; but the pure article, courage with eyes, courage with conduct, self-possession at the cannon's mouth, cheerfulness in lonely adherence to the right, is the endowment of elevated characters.
  • It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.

F

  • Be scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid. Ain’t nothing in the woods going to hurt you unless you corner it, or it smells that you are afraid. A bear or a deer, too, has got to be scared of a coward the same as a brave man has got to be.
  • Courage is defined as: the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action. Many of today’s world leaders have great courage: I wonder... would we be better off with cowardice?
  • People talk of the courage of convictions, but in actual life a man's duty to his family may make a rigid course seem a selfish indulgence of his own righteousness.
  • Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life.
    • E.M. Forster, Pharos and Pharillon, "The Poetry of C.P. Cavafy" (1923).
  • Courage is of the heart by derivation,
    And great it is. But fear is of the soul.
  • Courage is in the air in bracing whiffs
    Better than all the stalemate an's and ifs.

G

  • Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.
  • Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.
    • Billy Graham, "A Time for Moral Courage" Reader's Digest (July 1964).

H

  • It is when we all play safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity. It is when we all play safe that fatality will lead us to our doom. It is in the "dark shade of courage" alone that the spell can be broken.
    • Dag Hammarskjöld, Servant of Peace : A Selection of the Speeches and Statements of Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the United Nations (1962), p. 107.
  • Cowardly Lion: Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?
    Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman: Courage!
    Cowardly Lion: You can say that again! Hunh!
  • Courage is the ability to ignore your options.
  • The onward march of the human race requires that the heights around it constantly blaze with noble lessons of courage. Deeds of daring dazzle history and form one of man's guiding lights.
  • Courage, of all national qualities, is the most precarious; because it is exerted only at intervals, and by a few in every nation; whereas industry, knowledge, civility, may be of constant and universal use, and for several ages, may become habitual to the whole people.
    • David Hume, Of National Characters, part I, essay XXI (1758).
  • Winston Churchill famously claimed that of all human qualities, courage was the most esteemed, because it guaranteed all others. He was right. Courage—moral courage—is the companion of great leadership. No politician could ever be viewed as exceptional unless he or she had it in spades. And historically there would have been no social progress if not for the presence of specific humans dissenting and breaking from herd-inspired suspicion and fear.... At best, courage is self-sacrificing, non-violent, modest and based on universal principles — and immensely powerful. Think Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. Regrettably, courage is also rare: think Gandhi or MLK again. And dangerous: both men were assassinated.... Look at today’s politicians... keen to be viewed as the virile leaders of their respective countries; eager to inflate their image by harming migrants and refugees, the most vulnerable in society. If there is courage in that, I fail to see it. Authoritarian leaders, or elected leaders inclined toward it, are bullies, deceivers, selfish cowards. If they are growing in number it is because (with exceptions) many other politicians are mediocre... focused on their own image... too afraid to stand up... If we do not change course quickly, we will inevitably encounter an incident where that first domino is tipped—triggering a sequence of unstoppable events that will mark the end of our time on this tiny planet...

I

J

  • Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.
    • Samuel Johnson, Quoted in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, June 11, 1784 (1791).

K

  • Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere aude! "Have courage to use your own understanding!"—that is the motto of enlightenment.
  • Without belittling the courage with which men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which men - such as the subjects of this book - have lived. The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must—in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures—and that is the basis of all human morality.
  • In whatever area in life one may meet the challenges of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience — the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men — each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of past courage can define that ingredient — they can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.
  • It requires courage not to surrender oneself to the ingenious or compassionate counsels of despair that would induce a man to eliminate himself from the ranks of the living; but it does not follow from this that every huckster who is fattened and nourished in self-confidence has more courage than the man who yielded to despair.
    • Søren Kierkegaard, "Irony as a Mastered Moment: The Truth of Irony," pt. 2, The Concept of Irony (1841).

L

  • Complete courage and absolute cowardice are extremes that very few men fall into. The vast middle space contains all the intermediate kinds and degrees of courage; and these differ as much from one another as men's faces or their humors do.
  • Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.
  • I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.
  • Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.
    • C.S. Lewis, quoted in The Unquiet Grave, pt. 3, Cyril Connolly (1944).
  • This is the art of courage: to see things as they are and still believe that the victory lies not with those who avoid the bad, but those who taste, in living awareness, every drop of the good.
    • Victoria Lincoln, "The Art of Courage," Vogue (October 1, 1952).
  • Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 142-44.
  • The schoolboy, with his satchel in his hand,
    Whistling aloud to bear his courage up.
  • One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,
    Never doubted clouds would break,
    Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
    Held we fall to rise, are baffled to flight better,
    Sleep to wake.
  • We are not downhearted, but we cannot understand what is happening to our neighbours.
  • A man of courage is also full of faith.
    • Cicero, The Tusculan Disputations, Book III, Chapter VII. Yonge's translation.
  • The charm of the best courages is that they are inventions, inspirations, flashes of genius.
  • Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend
    To mean devices for a sordid end.
    Courage—an independent spark from Heaven's bright throne,
    By which the soul stands raised, triumphant high, alone.
    Great in itself, not praises of the crowd,
    Above all vice, it stoops not to be proud.
    Courage, the mighty attribute of powers above,
    By which those great in war, are great in love.
    The spring of all brave acts is seated here,
    As falsehoods draw their sordid birth from fear.
    • George Farquhar, Love and a Bottle. Part of dedication to the Lord Marquis of Carmarthen.
  • Stop shallow water still running, it will rage; tread on a worm and it will turn.
  • Few persons have courage enough to appear as good as they really are.
    • J. C. and A. W. Hare, Guesses at Truth.
  • Tender handed stroke a nettle,
    And it stings you for your pains;
    Grasp it like a man of mettle,
    And it soft as silks remains.
  • O friends, be men, and let your hearts be strong,
    And let no warrior in the heat of fight
    Do what may bring him shame in others' eyes;
    For more of those who shrink from shame are safe
    Than fall in battle, while with those who flee
    Is neither glory nor reprieve from death.
    • Homer, The Iliad, Book V, line 663. Bryant's translation.
  • Justum et tenacem propositi virum
    Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
    Non vultus instantis tyranni,
    Mente quatit solida.
    • The man who is just and resolute will not be moved from his settled purpose, either by the misdirected rage of his fellow citizens, or by the threats of an imperious tyrant.
    • Horace, Carmina, III. 3. 1.
  • "Be bold!" first gate; "Be bold, be bold, and evermore be bold," second gate; "Be not too bold!" third gate.
    • Inscription on the Gates of Busyrane.
  • On ne peut répondre de son courage quand on n'a jamais été dans le péril.
  • Write on your doors the saying wise and old,
    "Be bold! be bold!" and everywhere—"Be bold;
    Be not too bold!" Yet better the excess
    Than the defect; better the more than less;
    Better like Hector in the field to die,
    Than like a perfumed Paris turn and fly.
  • What! shall one monk, scarce known beyond his cell,
    Front Rome's far-reaching bolts, and scorn her frown?
    Brave Luther answered, "Yes"; that thunder's swell
    Rocked Europe, and discharmed the triple crown.
  • Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
    • Matthew, XIV. 27.
  • I argue not
    Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot
    Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer
    Right onward.
  • Animus tamen omnia vincit.
    Ille etiam vires corpus habere facit.
    • Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.
    • Ovid, Epistolæ Ex Ponto, II. 7. 75.
  • Pluma haud interest, patronus an cliens probior sit
    Homini, cui nulla in pectore est audacia.
    • It does not matter a feather whether a man be supported by patron or client, if he himself wants courage.
    • Plautus, Mostellaria, II. 1. 64.
  • Bonus animus in mala re, dimidium est mali.
    • Courage in danger is half the battle.
    • Plautus, Pseudolus, I. 5. 37.
  • Non solum taurus ferit uncis cornibus hostem,
    Verum etiam instanti læsa repugnat ovis.
    • Not only does the bull attack its foe with its crooked horns, but the injured sheep will fight its assailant.
    • Sextus Propertius, Elegiæ, II. 5. 19.
  • Cowards may fear to die; but courage stout,
    Rather than live in snuff, will be put out.
    • Sir Walter Raleigh, the night before he died. Bayley's Life of Raleigh, p. 157.
  • C'est dans les grands dangers qu'on voit les grands courages.
  • Christianity offers reasons for not fearing death or the universe, and in so doing it fails to teach adequately the virtue of courage. The craving for religious faith being largely an outcome of fear, the advocates of faith tend to think that certain kinds of fear are not to be deprecated. In this, to my mind, they are gravely mistaken. To allow oneself to entertain pleasant beliefs as a means of avoiding fear is not to live in the best way. In so far as religion makes its appeal to fear, it is lowering to human dignity.
  • Virtus in astra tendit, in mortem timor.
  • Fortuna opes auferre, non animum potest.
  • Ei di virilità grave e maturo,
    Mostra in fresco vigor chiome canute.
    • Grave was the man in years, in looks, in word,
      His locks were gray, yet was his courage green.
    • Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme, I. 53.
  • Quod sors feret feremus æquo animo.
    • Whatever chance shall bring, we will bear with equanimity.
    • Terence, Phormio, I. 2. 88.

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Quotes reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert's Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).
  • Be courageous. Be independent. Only remember where the true courage and independence come from.
  • This is the way to cultivate courage: First, by standing firm on some conscientious principle, some law of duty. Next, by being faithful to truth and right on small occasions and common events. Third, by trusting in God for help and power.
  • Conscience in the soul is the root of all true courage. If a man would be brave, let him learn to obey his conscience.
  • A Christian builds his fortitude on a better foundation than stoicism; he is pleased with every thing that happens, because he knows it could not happen unless it first pleased God, and that which pleases Him must be best.
  • Consult the honor of religion more, and your personal safety less. Is it for the honor of religion (think you) that Christians should be as timorous as hares to start at every sound?
  • Bear your burden manfully. Boys at school, young men who have exchanged boyish liberty for serious business, — all who have got a task to do, a work to finish — bear the burden till God gives the signal for repose — till the work is done, and the holiday is fairly earned.
  • Every man must bear his own burden, and it is a fine thing to see any one trying to do it manfully; carrying his cross bravely, silently, patiently, and in a way which makes you hope that he has taken for his pattern the greatest of all sufferers.
  • Gird your hearts with silent fortitude, Suffering, yet hoping all things.
  • There is a contemptibly quiet path for all those who are afraid of the blows and clamor of opposing forces. There is no honorable fighting for a man who is not ready to forget that he has a head to be battered and a name to be bespattered. Truth wants no champion who is not as ready to be struck as to strike for her.
  • Providence has clearly ordained that the only path fit and salutary for man on earth is the path of persevering fortitude — the unremitting struggle of deliberate self-preparation and humble but active reliance on Divine aid.
  • In the whole range of earthly experience, no quality is more attractive and ennobling than moral courage. Like that mountain of rock which towers aloft in the Irish Sea, the man possessed of this principle is unmoved by the swelling surges which fret and fume at his feet. And yet, unlike that same Ailsa Craig, he is sensitive beyond measure to every adverse influence — battling against it, and triumphing over it by a power which proceeds from God's throne, and pervades his entire being.
  • Whenever you do what is holy, be of good cheer, knowing that God Himself takes part with rightful courage.
  • What we want is men with a little courage to stand up for Christ. When Christianity wakes up, and every child that belongs to the Lord is willing to speak for Him, is willing to work for Him, and, if need be, willing to die for Him, then Christianity will advance, and we shall see the work of the Lord prosper.
  • To do an evil action is base; to do a good action without incurring danger is common enough; but it is the part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risks every thing.
  • My dear friend, venture to take the wind on your face for Christ.
  • Be not cast down. If ye saw Him who is standing on the shore, holding out His arms to welcome you to land, ye would wade, not only through a sea of wrongs, but through hell itself to be with Him.

See also

Wikipedia
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Wiktionary
Wiktionary
Look up courage in Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Virtues
Altruism • Asceticism • Beneficence • Benevolence • Bravery • Carefulness • Charity • Cheerfulness • Cleanliness • Common sense • Compassion • Constancy • Courage • Dignity • Diligence • Discretion • Earnestness • Faith • Fidelity • Forethought • Forgiveness • Friendship • Frugality • Generosity • Gentleness • Goodness • Grace • Gratitude • Holiness • Honesty • Honor • Hope • Hospitality • Humanity • Humility • Integrity • Intelligence • Justice • Kindness • Love • Loyalty • Mercy • Moderation • Modesty • Optimism • Patience • Philanthropy • Piety • Prudence • Punctuality • Poverty • Purity • Self-control • Simplicity • Sincerity • Sobriety • Sympathy • Temperance • Tolerance

Vices
Aggression • Anger • Apathy • Arrogance • Bigotry • Contempt • Cowardice • Cruelty • Dishonesty • Drunkenness • Egotism • Envy • Evil speaking • Gluttony • Greed • Hatred • Hypocrisy • Idleness • Ignorance • Impatience • Impenitence • Ingratitude • Inhumanity • Intemperance • Jealousy • Laziness • Lust • Malice • Neglect • Obstinacy • Philistinism • Prejudice • Pretension • Pride • Recklessness • Self-righteousness • Selfishness • Superficiality • Tryphé • Unkindness • Usury • Vanity • Worldliness

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