This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.
Ezra Pound, fully Ezra Weston Loomis Pound
The inexperienced teacher, fearing his own ignorance, is afraid to admit it. Perhaps that courage only come when one knows to what extent ignorance is almost universal.
Erwin Rommel, fully Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel
But courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility.
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Erich Fromm, fully Erich Seligmann Fromm
Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
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Life is simply time given to man to learn how to live. Mistakes are always part of learning. The real dignity of life consists in cultivating a fine attitude towards our own mistakes and those of others. It is the fine tolerance of a fine soul. Man becomes great, not through never making mistakes, but by profiting by those he does make; by being satisfied with a single rendition of a mistake, not encoring it into a continuous performance; by getting from it the honey of new, regenerating inspiration with no irritating sting of morbid regret; by building better to-day because of his poor yesterday; and by rising with renewed strength, finer purpose and freshened courage every time he falls.
Better | Courage | Dignity | Inspiration | Life | Life | Man | Purpose | Purpose | Time | Learn |
Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
A very popular error - having the courage of one's convictions. Rather it is a matter of having the courage for an attack upon one's convictions.
Frances Wright, known as Fanny Wright
If we bring not the good courage of minds covetous of truth, and truth only, prepared to hear all things, and decide upon all things, according to evidence, we should do more wisely to sit down contented in ignorance, than to bestir ourselves only to reap disappointment.
It often takes more courage to change one's opinion than to stick to it.
George Eliot, pen name of Mary Ann or Marian Evans
May every soul that touches mine - be it the slightest contact - get there from some good; some little grace; one kindly thought; one aspiration yet unfelt; one bit of courage for the darkening sky; one gleam of faith to brave the thickening ills of life; one glimpse of brighter skies beyond the gathering mists - to make this life worthwhile.
Aspiration | Courage | Faith | Life | Life | Little | Soul | Aspiration |
Cemeteries have always had a lure for me. They are well kept, free from ambiguity, logical, virile, and alive. In cemeteries you can summon up courage and arrive at decisions, in cemeteries life takes on distinct contours -- I am not referring to the borders of the graves -- and if you will, a meaning.
Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller
We differ, blind and seeing, one from another, not in our senses, but in the use we make of them, in the imagination and courage with which we seek wisdom beyond the senses.
Courage | Imagination | Wisdom |
Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance.
Richard Niebuhr, fully Helmut Richard Niebuhr
God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Change | Courage | Distinguish | Grace | Serenity | Wisdom |
Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller
The highest result of education is tolerance. Long ago men fought and died for their faith; but it took ages to teach them the other kind of courage, — the courage to recognize the faiths of their brethren and their rights of conscience. Tolerance is the first principle of community; it is the spirit which conserves the best that all men think.
To live we must conquer incessantly, we must have the courage to be happy.
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People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.
Henry de Montherlant, fully Henry Marie Joseph Frédéric Expedite Millon de Montherlant
Most affections are habits or duties we lack the courage to end.
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Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller
Who shall dare let his incapacity for hope or goodness cast a shadow upon the courage of those who bear their burdens as if they were privileges?