Talk:Courage

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Bowie Quote[edit]

How is the David Bowie "Heroes" song lyric relevant? Just because it has the word heroes in it?

Source of a certain quote[edit]

I've posted a sentence that I've heard once - "The brave only dies once. The coward dies every day." I don't remember where I've heard it, I think it was in some book. If anyone knows what the source is, please let me know and write it in the article. Tamuz 19:46, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A'right, I found it in another place in wikiquote :-). Apparently its "A coward dies a thousand times...", found it in English Proverbs and apparently its by Shakespeare. Tamuz 20:14, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Quote[edit]

the test of courage comes when we are in the minority and the test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority


removed references to other quote archive[edit]

Sites that are compendiums of quotes (much like Wikiquote) are not primary sources, and should not be used as references in Wikiquote (it would be rather circular to reference a quote on one quote compendium with a another compendium). This is discussed in Wikiquote:Sourcing if you'd like to read more about it.

Unsourced[edit]

  • Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.
  • Courage isn't about being fearless. It's about overcoming your fears.
  • You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
  • I admit that there are things scarier, but I consider them inevitable and therefore illogical to be afraid of.
  • All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them, but confront them. Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you; grasp it boldly, and its spines crumble.
  • It doesn't matter where you go in this world, there will always be corruption and inequality. It is not only human nature, but the way of nature its self. It is completely unavoidable. Happiness comes from having the courage to change the world to suit you, the wisdom to change your self to suit the world, and the awareness to know how much of each is necessary.
  • I was wrong. Do not accept eternal inequality and corruption! It is not human nature, it is not the way of nature. I know this now, it is simple greed, which we, more powerful together than we are separately, can overcome. And that is the role of a government, that in a nation united and equal under law, all may prosper. When all are not prospering, then the law has been unbalanced. And in our modern society it has become apparent that economic inequality is a construct of law, e.g. private property. Institutionalized greed and inequality. We as a people have recognized the inherent power of democracy to free people, but we need to apply the principal of democracy to the rest of our lives! Democracy is not just good for government, but business and resources as well. Democratize the economy. The current legal structure of a corporation is modeled after monarchy, it's an inherently unequal system at the very start. Model your business like a democracy and see it prosper everyone, even the environment. Worker owned business; remove greed and inequality from law and instead institutionalize values of compassion, charity, and cooperation. And to accomplish all this, we must have the courage to not accept inequality!
  • Courage is a poison, forever potent and always inflicting those who wish to carry it.


  • Fortunately for themselves and the world, nearly all men are cowards and dare not act on what they believe. Nearly all our disasters come of a few fools having the 'courage of their convictions.'
  • If I spent as much time doing the things I worry about getting done as I do worrying about doing them, I wouldn't have anything to worry about. ...
  • Courage easily finds its own eloquence.
  • Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.
    • Ambrose Redmoon - This James Neil Hollingworth/ "Ambrose Redmoon" quote seems to come from "No Peaceful Warriors!" published in the Fall, 1991 issue of "Gnosis: A Journal of the Western Inner Traditions"
  • The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority....
  • An elephant pierced by arrows stands unperturbed. The courageous relent not in adversities.
  • If you're gonna be dumb, then you gotta be tough; when you get knocked down, you gotta get back up.
  • Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.
  • Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
  • Courage is being scared to death— and saddling up anyway.
  • Courage is like a muscle; it is strengthened by use.
  • Courage is not the absence of fear, but is the presence of fear and the will to go on.
  • Courage is rarely reckless or foolish... courage usually involves a highly realistic estimate of the odds that must be faced.
  • Courage is not the lack of fear. It is acting in spite of it.
  • Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.
  • Courage is not the towering oak / That sees storms come and go, / It is the fragile blossom / That opens in the snow.
  • Courage is often lack of insight, whereas cowardice in many cases is based on good information.
  • Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.
  • Courage is sometimes frail as hope is frail: a fragile shoot between two stones that grows brave toward the sun though warmth and brightness fail, striving and faith the only strength it knows.
  • Cowardice. . . is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.
  • Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to dark place where it leads.
  • Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear.
  • Fear imprisons; faith liberates; fear paralyzes; faith empowers; fear disheartens; faith encourages; fear sickens; faith heals; fear makes useless; faith makes serviceable.
  • Fear is an instructor of great sagacity, and the herald of all revolutions.
  • Few things are more attractive than courage, cheerfulness and optimism. But they take on an extra dimension when you realize that they are not a lucky assembly of character traits, but the result of an act of will—a deliberate attempt to tackle an unkind destiny with strength of purpose and good humor.
  • Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.
  • Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or we grow weak, and at last some crisis shows us what we have become.
  • Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen.
  • I am old enough to know that victory is often a thing deferred, and rarely at the summit of courage. What is at the summit of courage, I think, is freedom. The freedom that comes with the knowledge that no earthly thing can break you.
  • I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experiences behind him.
  • If one man can stand tall, there will be hope for us all.
  • If we could be heroes, if just for one day.
  • If you let fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, then your life will be safe, expedient and thin.
  • In times of stress, be bold and valiant.
  • It is better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees.
  • It is curious—curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.
  • It isn't the absence of conscience or values that prevents us from being all we should be, it is simply the lack of moral courage.
  • Last, but by no means least, courage— moral courage, the courage of one's convictions, the courage to see things through. The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It's the age-old struggle— the roar of the crowd on one side and the voice of your conscience on the other.
  • Life is a compromise of what your ego wants to do, what experience tells you to do, and what nerves let you do.
  • Many of our fears are tissue-paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us through them.
  • Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.
  • Often I have found that the one thing that can save is the thing which appears most to threaten ... one has to go down into what one most fears and that process ... comes a saving flicker of light and energy that, even if it does not produce the courage of a hero, at any rate enables a trembling mortal to take one step further.
  • One must think like a hero merely to behave like a decent human being.
  • Proust has pointed out that the predisposition to love creates its own objects; is this not also true of fear?
  • Strength and courage aren't always measured in medals and victories. They are measured in the struggles they overcome. The strongest people aren't always the people who win, but the people who don't give up when they lose.
  • The art of living lies not in eliminating but in growing with troubles.
  • The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.
  • The important thing when you are going to do something brave is to have someone on hand to witness it.
  • The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear—fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants beyond everything else is safety.
  • To have courage for whatever comes in life— everything lies in that.
  • To see what is right and not to do it is cowardice.
  • What great thing would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
  • Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
  • When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.
  • Worrying is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere.
  • You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
  • One of my greatest fears, one of those few things that keeps me awake at night and troubles my dreams, is that, when the moment of truth comes, I will fail. This is surpassed only by the fear that when that moment arrives, I will not fail, but will lack the courage to try.
  • Courage = Love + Hope + Fear
    • Shomam
  • You only really discover the strength of your spine when your back is against the wall.
  • Courage is nothing but acting as if you dont fear anything.
    • C.P.Karthic Srinivas.
  • Failure is never quite so frightening as regret.
  • Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is being scared shitless and not letting anyone else know it.
    • Anonymous
  • Courage isn't about not being scared, it's about being scared and still doing it.
  • It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to out friends.

Courage & Bravery[edit]

Any chance these two pages could be combined? Or at least have one page redirect to the other (in this case, I'd prefer to have Bravery redirect to Courage)? Thanks. Markjoseph125 (talk) 03:19, 20 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]