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Quotes about courage

191 quotes from 139 people

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If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.
Thomas Sowellborn 1930Wimps Versus Barbarians, May 21, 2013
We shall make mistakes; and if we let these mistakes frighten us from our work we shall show ourselves weaklings.
Theodore Roosevelt1858–1919National Duties (Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick) (1901)
- Failure
Far better is it to have a stout heart always, and suffer one’s share of evils, than to be ever fearing what may happen.
Herodotus484–425 BCThe Histories, Book 7, Ch. 50 (trans. George Rawlinson)
- Fear
Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.
Samuel Johnson1709–1784Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV (June 1784) p. 526
- Virtue
Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because, as has been said, ‘it is the quality which guarantees all others.’
Winston Churchill1874–1965In Great Contemporaries, “Alfonso XIII” (1937)
It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion’s heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in Westminster Hall (30 November 1954), quoted in The Times (1 December 1954), p. 11
- Leadership
Disobedience, the rarest and most courageous of the virtues, is seldom distinguished from neglect, the laziest and commonest of the vices.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Maxims for Revolutionists (1903), #89
- Virtue
If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.
Carl Sagan1934–1996Cosmos (1980), p. 193
In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.
Mark Twain1835–1910Mark Twain’s Notebook (1935), p. 413
- Patriotism
All is in a man’s hands and he lets it all slip from cowardice, that’s an axiom. It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of. Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881Crime and Punishment (1866)In context
- Fear
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 Hammarskjöld1905–1961Servant of Peace: A Selection of the Speeches and Statements of Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the United Nations (1962), p. 107
- Risk
Many people today believe that cynicism requires courage. Actually, cynicism is the height of cowardice. It is innocence and open-heartedness that requires the true courage⁠—however often we are hurt as a result of it.
Erica Jongborn 1942How to Save Your Own Life (1977)
The bullet that will kill me is not yet cast.
Napoleon1769–1821Statement at Montereau (17 February 1814)
- Life & Death
A great people may be killed, but they cannot be intimidated.
Napoleon1769–1821Political Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts (1848)
There are times when the utmost daring is the height of wisdom.
Carl von Clausewitz1780–1831On War (1832), Book 2
- Wisdom