quotations about courage
Better to die on your feet than on your knees.
DAN SIMMONS
Olympos
Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.
MAYA ANGELOU
USA Today, Mar. 5, 1988
Courage ... oh yes! If only one had that ... then life might be livable, in spite of everything.
HENRIK IBSEN
Hedda Gabbler
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.
MARY ANNE RADMACHER
Courage Doesn't Always Roar
Courage is in the air in bracing whiffs
Better than all the stalemate an's and ifs.
ROBERT FROST
"For John F. Kennedy His Inauguration"
A single feat of daring can alter the whole conception of what is possible.
GRAHAM GREENE
The Heart of the Matter
Courage is a moral quality; it is not a chance gift of nature like an aptitude for games. It is a cold choice between two alternatives, the fixed resolve not to quit; an act of renunciation which must be made not once but many times by the power of the will.
CHARLES WILSON
The Anatomy of Courage
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Macbeth
Courage is the thing. All goes if courage goes.
J.M. BARRIE
speech, May 3, 1922
'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.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Society and Solitude
Courage is more exhilarating than fear, and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
You Learn by Living
It requires more courage to suffer than to die.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
To face life you must have great courage every day.
HAIDAKHAN BABAJI
The Teachings of Babaji
The brave man, if he be compared with the coward, seems foolhardy; and, if with the foolhardy man, seems a coward.
ARISTOTLE
Nicomachean Ethics
He who is brave is free.
SENECA
Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales
Unless you have courage, a courage that keeps you going, always going, no matter what happens, there is no certainty of success. It is really an endurance race.
HENRY FORD
Theosophist Magazine, Feb. 1930
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....
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
Courage is finding the inner strength and bravery required when confronting danger, difficulty, or opposition. Courage is the energy current behind all great actions and the spark that ignites the initial baby steps of growth. It resides deep within each of us, ready to be accessed in those moments when you need to forge ahead or break through seemingly insurmountable barriers. It is the intangible force that propels you forward on your journey.
CHERIE CARTER-SCOTT
If Life Is a Game
Courage is that virtue which champions the cause of right.
CICERO
De Officiis
Courage is not only common, but cosmopolitan. But such are the apparent contradictions of life, that this virtue, which so many seem to possess, all hold the highest. There is probably no man, however miserable, who would not writhe at being exposed a coward. Why should the common be precious? What is the explanation?
WINSTON CHURCHILL
The Story of the Malakand Field Force