Claude McKay on courage

If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

Aristotle384–322 BC

Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once.

William Shakespeare1564–1616Julius Caesar (1599), Act II, scene ii.In context

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.