Great Throughts Treasury

"Whatever enlarges hope will also exalt courage." -

"There is plenty of courage among us for the abstract but not for the concrete." -

"A little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all." -

"When pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all." -

"Laws exist in vain for those who have not the courage and the means to defend them." -

"Our chief aim of any true system of education must be to impart to the individual the courage to play the game against any and all odds, the nerve to walk into the ambushes of existence, the hardiness to face the most despicable truth about himself and not let it daunt him permanently; it must armour him with an ultimate carelessness." -

"It requires greater courage to preserve inner freedom, to move on in one's inward journey into new realms, than to stand defiantly for outer freedom." -

"The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness." - Christopher Morley, fully Christopher Darlington Morley

"Faith is the inspiration of nobleness, it is the strength of integrity; it is the life of love, and is everlasting growth for it; it is courage of soul, and bridges over for our crossing the gulf between worldliness and heavenly-mindfulness; and it is the sense of the unseen, without which we could not feel God nor hope for heaven." - William Mountford

"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." -

"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." -

"Physical courage is never in short supply in a fighting army. Moral courage sometimes is." - Matthew B Ridgway, fully Matthew Bunker Ridgway

"Not one of us knows what effect his life produces, and what he gives to others; that is hidden from us and must remain so, though we are often allowed to see some little fraction of it, so that we may not lose courage. The way in which power works is a mystery." - Albert Schweitzer

"Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything." - Sydney Smith

"He who remains cheerful in spirit and sees only the good side of all things, who never allows himself to be spiritually downcast but keeps his head high and courage in his heart, he sets in motion those fine, still powers, which make every step through life The more one loves the nearer he approaches to God, for God is the spirit of infinite love." - Ralph Waldo Trine

"I agree with no man's opinion...The courage to believe in nothing." -

"Most men are so closely confined to the orbit of their worldly station that they have not even the courage to escape it by their ideas; and if there are some whom speculating on great matters unfits for small ones, there are yet more who by constant handling of small matters have lost the very sense of what is great." -

"War is fear cloaked in courage." - William C. Westmoreland

"It takes vision and courage to create - it takes faith and courage to prove." - Owen D. Young

"The mother said, “This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today I have given them strength... This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God... I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know that the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them.” And the children said, “You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates.”" - Temple Bailey, born Irene Temple Bailey

"It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else." - Erma Bombeck, fully Erma Louise Bombeck, born Erma Fiste

"There is probably no direct way to get in touch with our inner selves or to seek out satisfaction and happiness. It’s best to live by sound principles – honesty, courage, liberty, and love – and then to await what unfolds. When, inevitably, we go astray for a time, we must return, once again, to living by the principles we cherish. The formula isn’t all that difficult to understand; applying it is the work of a lifetime." - Peter R. Breggin

"If you have a single powerful purpose, you will have the courage to act on your ideas." - Tom Butler-Bowdon

"The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it." - Gilbert Keith "G.K." Chesteron

"Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because, as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others." - Winston Churchill, fully Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

"Courage is of two kinds: first, physical courage, or courage in the presence of danger to the person; and next, moral courage, or courage before responsibility, whether it be before the judgment seat of external authority, or of the inner power, the conscience." - Carl von Clausewitz, fully Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz, also Karl von Clausewitz

"Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular cause." -

"The prime role of a leader is to offer an example of courage and sacrifice." - Régis Debray, fully Jules Régis Debray

"The best measure of courage is the fear to overcome." - Norman F. Dixon

"Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education." -

"Science has brought this danger, but the real problem is in the minds and hearts of men. We will not change the hearts of other men by mechanisms, but by changing our hearts and speaking bravely… When we are clear in heart and mind – only then shall we find courage to surmount the fear which haunts the world." - Albert Einstein

"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been kindness, beauty and truth." - Albert Einstein

"Courage is a virtue only so far as it is directed by prudence." -

"Life is mostly froth and bubble, two things stand like stone; kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own." - Adam Lindsey Gordon

"`Tis better to have tried in vain sincerely striving for a goal, than to have lived upon the plain an idle and timid soul. `Tis better to have fought and spent your courage, missing all applause, than to have lived in smug content and never ventured for a cause. For he who tries and fails may be the founder of a better day; though never his the victory, form him shall others learn the way." - Edgar Albert Guest, aka Eddie Guest

"Do you have the courage of your desires, or have you always considered your yearnings as idle and unproductive? Do you feel the wonder of existence, your own and that of everything? Does it truly do justice to that wonder to see it as an illusion or as a product of chance?" - Os Guiness

"Only when faced with the activity of enemies can you learn real inner strength. From this viewpoint, even enemies are teachers of inner strength, courage, and determination." -

"Few persons have courage to appear as good as they really are." - J. C. Hare (1795-1855) and A. W. Hare

"The courage of desperation." - B. H. Liddell Hart, fully Captain B. H. Liddell

"The human world represents a purgatorial-like range of opportunities and choices, from the most grim to the exalted, from criminality to nobility, from fear to courage, from despair to hope, and from greed to charity. This if the purpose of the human experience is to evolve, then this world is perfect just as it is." - David R. Hawkins, fully David Ramon Hawkins

"Courage has need of reason, but it is not reason’s child; it springs from deeper strata." - Herman Hesse

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; when you have laboriously accomplished your daily tasks, go to sleep in peace. God is awake." - Victor Hugo

"The same principles [that apply in polytheism] naturally deify mortals, superior in power, courage, or understanding, and produce hero-worship." - David Hume

"It takes courage to experience the freedom that comes with autonomy, courage to accept intimacy and directly encounter other persons, courage to take a stand in an unpopular cause, courage to choose authenticity over approval and to choose it again and again, courage to accept the responsibility for your own choices, and, indeed, courage to be the unique person you really are." - Muriel James and Dorothy Jongeward

"The part of wisdom as well as of courage is to believe what is in the line of your needs, for only by such belief is the need fulfilled. Refuse to believe, and you shall indeed be right, for you shall irretrievably perish. But believe, and again you shall be right, for you shall save yourself." - William James

"If thinking men would have the courage to think for themselves, and to speak what they think, it would be found they do not differ in religious opinion as much as is opposed." - Thomas Jefferson

"Whatever enlarges hope will exalt courage." - Samuel Johnson, aka Doctor Johnson

"Hope awakens courage. He who can implant courage in the human soul is the best physician." - Jack Klugman

"Courage is sort of endurance of the soul." - Laches NULL

"Fortitude is the Guard and Support of the other Virtues; and without Courage a Man will scarce keep steady to his Duty, and fill up the Character of a truly worthy Man." - John Locke