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Courage Quotes and Quotations
 I'm not funny. What I am is brave.  Courage is the first of the human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all the others. Courage to be is the key to revelatory power of the feminist revolution. Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning. A brave man is seldom unkind. Success is never found. Failure is never fatal. Courage is the only thing. Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without it we can't practice any other virtue with consistency. Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. Courage is the ladder on which all other virtues mount. Courage is the basic virtue for everyone so long as he continues to grow, to move ahead. Courage is the greatest of all the virtues. Because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others. 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 morality. Nothing but courage can guide life. Wealth lost-something lost; Honor lost-much lost; Courage lost-all lost. Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is? In politics, guts is all. In difficult situations, when hope seems feeble, the boldest plans are safest. - Livy Courage is the best slayer-courage which attacketh, for in every attack there is the sound of triumph. He who finds Fortune on his side should go briskly ahead, for she is wont to favor the bold. That's what being young is all about. You have the courage and the daring to think that you can make a difference. - Ruby Dee It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half of the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen. A decent boldness ever meets with friends. - Homer In times of stress, be bold and valiant. - Horace The brave venture anything. It is the bold man who every time does best, at home or abroad. - Homer Attacking is the only secret. Dare and the world always yields; or if it beats you sometimes, dare it again, and it will succumb. You don't learn to hold your own in the world by standing on guard, but by attacking, and getting well-hammered yourself. Fortune helps the brave. - Virgil Audacity augments courage; hesitation, fear. Fortune reveres the brave, and overwhelms the cowardly. God helps the brave. Fortune befriends the bold. Fortune and love favor the brave. - Ovid Fortune favors the audacious. - Erasmus Audacity has made kings. Audacity, more audacity, always audacity. With audacity one can undertake anything. Bravery and faith bring both material and spiritual rewards. He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he who loses his courage loses all. True miracles are created by men when they use the courage and intelligence that God gave them. Tender-handed stroke a nettle, and it stings you for your pains; Grasp it like a man of mettle, and it soft as silk remains. Be content to stand in the light, and let the shadow fall where it will. Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle. Life is the acceptance of responsibilities, or their evasion; it is a business of meeting obligations, or avoiding them. The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success comes only later. There were always in me, two women at least, one woman desperate and bewildered, who felt she was drowning and another who would leap into a scene, as upon a stage, conceal her true emotions because they were weaknesses, helplessness, despair, and present to the world only a smile, an eagerness, curiosity, enthusiasm, interest. Facing it-always facing it-that's the way to get through. Face it! If one is willing to do a thing he is afraid to do, he does not have to ... face a situation fearlessly, and [if] there is no situation to face; it falls away of its own weight. He shall fare well who confronts circumstances aright. - Plutarch He that handles a nettle tenderly is soonest stung. He who is afraid of every nettle should not piss in the grass. Let us be brave in the face of adversity. Only one feat is possible: not to have run away. There is something healthy and invigorating about direct action. Confidence ... is directness and courage in meeting the facts of life. The man who most vividly realizes a difficulty is the man most likely to overcome it. I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things. No man will succeed unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties, and is prepared to assume responsibilities. The fly that doesn't want to be swatted is most secure when it lights on the fly-swatter. The fly ought to be used as the symbol of impertinence and audacity, for whilst all other animals shun man more than anything else, and run away even before he comes near them, the fly lights upon his very nose. All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them, but confront them. The best way out of a problem is through it. We cannot solve life's problems except by solving them. The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable. Have the courage to face a difficulty lest it kick you harder than you bargain for. A great man is one who seizes the vital issue in a complex question, what we might call the jugular vein of the whole organism, and spends his energies upon that. It is often wonderful how putting down on paper a clear statement of a case helps one to see, not perhaps the way out, but the way in. As a rule, what is out of sight disturbs men's minds more seriously than what they see. Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Life is a battle in which we fall from wounds we receive in running away. Fools, through false shame, conceal their open wounds. - Horace Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around us in awareness. It takes courage to know when you ought to be afraid. However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. Genius is an infinite capacity for taking life by the scruff of the neck. If you suppress grief too much, it can well redouble. - Moliere Bad weather always looks worse through a window. The frontiers are not east or west, north or south, but wherever a man fronts a fact. Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, have the strength to force the moment to its crisis? Whatever you are trying to avoid won't go away until you confront it. None are so blind as those who will not see. You don't change the course of history by turning the faces of portraits to the wall. Soldiers, strike the foe in the face! - Florus Get in front of the ball, you won't get hurt. That's what you've got a chest for, young man. Knowledge of sin is the beginning of salvation. Courage is a quietness, not martial music made Born of facing up to life, even when afraid. The great virtue in life is real courage that knows how to face facts and live beyond them. Risk! Risk anything! ... Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth. The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are. It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity! - Horace It is easy to be brave from a safe distance. - Aesop Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself. No blame should attach to telling the truth. The elegance of honesty needs no adornment. Truth is always exciting. Speak it, then; life is dull without it. You cannot weave truth on a loom of lies. You're only as sick as your secrets. You can't expect to win unless you know why you lose. It takes great courage to break with one's past history and stand alone. We run away all the time to avoid coming face to face with ourselves. Awakening begins when a man realizes that he is going nowhere, and does not know where to go. The naked truth is always better than the best-dressed lie. If the word frankly or sincerely is not uttered in the first ten minutes-or let us speak openly-then you are not in the presence of a genuine businessman, and he will certainly go bankrupt. The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection. If I ever said in grief or pride, I tired of honest things, I lied. Truth, that fair goddess who comes always with healing in her wings. The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works. Admitting errors clears the score and proves you wiser than before. There is in the end no remedy but truth. It is the one course that cannot be evil. There is no power on earth more formidable than the truth. If one cannot invent a really convincing lie, it is often better to stick to the truth. An excuse is a lie guarded. Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom. Truth is the vital breath of Beauty; Beauty the outward form of Truth. The trouble with lying and deceiving is that their efficiency depends entirely upon a clear notion of the truth that the liar and deceiver wishes to hide. There is at least one thing more brutal than the truth, and that is the consequence of saying less than the truth. The real gift of love is self disclosure. We only really face up to ourselves when we are afraid. It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else. It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than to dominate them, more "manhood" to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind. I have often though morality may perhaps consist solely in the courage of making a choice. Introversion, at least if extreme, is a sign of mental and spiritual immaturity. The highest courage is to dare to appear to be what one is. It isn't for the moment you are stuck that you need courage, but for the long uphill climb back to sanity and faith and security. True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason. Greatness, in the last analysis, is largely bravery-courage in escaping from old ideas and old standards. The highest courage is not to be found in the instinctive acts of men who risk their lives to save a friend or slay a foe; the physical fearlessness of a moment or an hour is not to be compared with immolation of months or years for the sake of wisdom or art. I have met brave women who are exploring the outer edge of human possibility, with no history to guide them, and with a courage to make themselves vulnerable that I find moving beyond words. Valour is nobleness of the mind. Courage ... is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life, with all its sorrows, is good; that everything is meaningful, even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow. 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. God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right, even though I think it is hopeless. The great virtue in life is real courage that knows how to face facts and live beyond them. Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another. The former would seem most necessary for the camp; the latter for the council; but to constitute a great man, both are necessary. Courage is the power to let go of the familiar. Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. One of man's finest qualities is described by the simple word "guts"-the ability to take it. If you have the discipline to stand fast when your body wants to run, if you can control your temper and remain cheerful in the face of monotony or disappointment, you have "guts" in the soldiering sense. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires ... courage. Courage is more than standing for a firm conviction. It includes the risk of questioning that conviction. The hallmark of courage in our age of conformity is the capacity to stand on one's convictions-not obstinately or defiantly (these are gestures of defensiveness, not courage) nor as a gesture of retaliation, but simply because these are what one believes. Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart. Courage is to take hard knocks like a man when occasion calls. - Plautus You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity. This is courage ... to bear unflinchingly what heaven sends. Courage, in the final analysis, is nothing but an affirmative answer to the shocks of existence. Courage is a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it. To have courage for whatever comes in life-everything lies in that. To accept whatever comes, regardless of the consequences, is to be unafraid. The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. One man with courage makes a majority. Many women miss their greatest chance of happiness through a want of courage in a decisive moment. We must have the courage to be happy. There is a courage of happiness as well as a courage of sorrow. Happy the man who ventures boldly to defend what he holds dear. - Ovid All happiness depends on courage and work. There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage. We must have courage to bet on our ideas, on the calculated risk, and to act. Everyday living requires courage if life is to be effective and bring happiness. Faint heart never won fair lady. The last thing a woman will consent to discover in a man whom she loves, or on whom she simply depends, is want of courage. None but the brave deserve the fair. Fortune and love favor the brave. - Ovid The bravest are the tenderest. The loving are the daring. The weapon of the brave is in his heart. The guts carry the feet, not the feet the guts. I am not afraid of a fight; I have to do my duty, come what may. War is fear cloaked in courage. A bold heart is half the battle. Courage in danger is half the battle. - Plautus A man of courage never wants weapons. A brave arm makes a short sword long. Courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility. There is, in addition to a courage with which men die, a courage by which men must live. Where life is more terrible than death, it is the truest valor to dare to live. The courage we desire and prize is not the courage to die decently, but to live manfully. Often the test of courage is not to die, but to live. He who has the courage to laugh is almost as much the master of the world as he who is ready to die. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Only those are fit to live who are not afraid to die. Sometimes even to live is an act of courage. To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death. Have the courage to live. Anyone can die. Because a fellow has failed once or twice or a dozen times, you don't want to set him down as a failure till he's dead or loses his courage-and that's the same thing. What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree? Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win. To persevere, trusting in what hopes he has, is courage. The coward despairs. It takes vision and courage to create- it takes faith and courage to prove. Whatever you do, you need courage. ... To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage which a soldier needs. Who dares nothing, need hope for nothing. Have the courage of your desire. To see what is right, and not do it, is want of courage. No great thing conies to any man unless he has courage. Great things are done more through courage than through wisdom. Courage permits the caliber of performance to continue at its peak, until the finish line is crossed. Failure is only postponed success as long as courage "coaches" ambition. The habit of persistence is the habit of victory. Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear, and obstacles vanish into air. There are a lot of fellas with all the ability it takes to play in the major leagues, but... they always get stuck in the minor leagues because they haven't got the guts to make the climb. Where there is a brave man, in the thickest of the fight, there is the post of honor. It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded. You will never do anything in this world without courage. Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision. Courage to start and willingness to keep everlasting at it are the requisites for success. One of the biggest factors in success is the courage to undertake something. Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark place where it leads. The world is not perishing for the want of clever or talented or well-meaning men. It is perishing for the want of men of courage and resolution. Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely necessary. Knowledge without courage is sterile. To create one's own world in any of the arts takes courage. Courage is the thing. All goes if courage goes. It's weak and despicable to go on wanting things and not trying to get them. How many feasible projects have miscarried through despondency, and been strangled in their birth by a cowardly imagination? It is brave to be involved. One of the biggest factors in success is the courage to undertake something. When it comes to betting on yourself ... you're a chicken-livered coward if you hesitate. What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? Be courageous! ... I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has come out stronger and more prosperous. Be as brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward. Dare to begin! He who postpones living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses. - Horace Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The brave venture anything. The difference between getting somewhere and nowhere is the courage to make an early start. Life is to be entered upon with courage. We ought to face our destiny with courage. You can surmount the obstacles in your path if you are determined, courageous and hardworking. ... Do not fear to pioneer, to venture down new paths of endeavor. The great man is the man who does a thing for the first time. Imposing limitations on yourself is cowardly because it protects you from having to try, and perhaps failing. What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it. We need the courage to start and continue what we should do, and courage to stop what we shouldn't do. Prudence which degenerates into timidity is very seldom the path to safety. He that is overcautious will accomplish little. We can easily become as much slaves to precaution as we can to fear. To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so. |