Great Throughts Treasury

"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." - Douglas MacArthur

"A truly great man is ever the same under all circumstances; and if his fortune varies, exalting him at one moment and oppressing him at another, he himself never varies, but always preserves a firm courage, which is so closely interwoven with his character that everyone can readily see that the fickleness of fortune has no power over him." - Niccolò Machiavelli, formally Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli

"Courage, brother! Do not stumble, though thy path be as dark as night; there’s a star to guide the humble. Trust in God and do right." - Norman Macleod

"Man with his burning soul has but an hour of breath to build a ship of Truth in which his soul may sail, sail on the sea of death; for death takes toll of beauty, courage, youth, of all but Truth." - John Masefield

"The future belongs to those who fuse intelligence with faith, and who with courage and determination grope their way forward from chance to choice, from blind adaptation to creative evolution." - Charles Edward Merriam

"Eternal peace is a dream, and not even a beautiful one. War is a part of God’s world order. In it are developed the noblest virtues of man: courage and abnegation, dutifulness and self-sacrifice. Without war the world would sink into materialism." - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, fully Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Molke

"Acceptance of death is acceptance of freedom – freedom to live each day with clarity and courage… If we know we are going to die, all danger disappears. There is less fear about what can go wrong, because the worst that can possibly go wrong – our own death – is completely assured. All there is left to do is live, and live well." - Wayne Muller

"There are three kinds of “honest” people: those who are dishonest but whose dishonest remains undetected; those who have stopped being dishonest because their fortunes are already made; and finally all those who would like to be dishonest, but who lack the courage or the opportunity." - Paul Richard

"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared." - Eddie Rickenbacker, formally Edward Vernon "Eddie" Rickenbacker

"Everyone likes to think that they have done reasonably well in life, so that it comes as a shock to find our children believing differently. The temptation is to tune them out; it takes much more courage to listen." - John D. Rockefeller III

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot." - Eleanor Roosevelt, fully Anna Eleanor Roosevelt

"You gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face. You must do that which we think we cannot." - Eleanor Roosevelt, fully Anna Eleanor Roosevelt

"I know of nothing so potent in its effect on my feelings as an act of courage performed at the right moment on behalf of the weak, unjustly oppressed." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"One is happy as a result of one's own efforts, once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness - simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial top a point, love of work, and above all a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream, of that I now feel certain." - George Sand, pen name for Amandine Lucte Aurore Dupin, Baronne Dudevant

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

"Optimism is true moral courage." - Ernest Shackleton, fully Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton

"If matter and energy and chance are all there is, it takes a man of most unusual courage to build an unselfish love for humanity on such foundations." - Edmund Ware Sinnot

"Faith, then, is a quality of human living. At its best it has taken the form of serenity and courage and loyalty and service; a quiet confidence and joy which enable one to feel at home in the universe, and to find meaning in the world and in one’s own life, a meaning that is profound and ultimate, and is stable no matter what may happen to oneself at the level of immediate event. Men and women of this kind of faith face catastrophe and confusion, affluence and sorrow, unperturbed; face opportunity with conviction and drive; and face others with cheerful charity." - Wilfred Cantwell Smith

"It is through a religious act that people set meaning over against meaninglessness, wholeness over against being fragmented, courage over against fear." - Dorothee Söelle

"Faith in providence is faith altogether. It is the courage to say yes to one’s life and life in general, in spite of the driving forces of fate, in spite of the catastrophes of existence and the breakdown of meaning." -

"Courage? It is not being fearless, it is finding the strength from God to do what you have to do - whether you are afraid or not." - Gene Tunney

"'Tisn't life that matters! 'Tis the courage you bring to it." -

"The President must have not only the courage of his convictions but also the courage to change his convictions." - Sidney Warren

"Fiction never exceeds the reach of the writer's courage." - Dorothy Allison

"All goes if courage goes." -

"The scars you acquire by exercising courage will never make you feel inferior." - D. A. Battista, fully Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano

"It requires more courage to suffer than to die." -

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy." -

"Courage is always greatest when blended with meekness; intellectual ability is most admirable when it sparkles in the setting of a modest self-distrust; and never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury." -

"I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally non-violent struggle for justice." -

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

"To dream anything that you want to dream, that is the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do, that is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself, to test your limits, that is the courage to succeed." - Bernard Edmonds

"Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage-to move in the opposite direction." - Albert Einstein

"Life is mostly froth and bubble; Two things stand like stone: Kindness in another's trouble, Courage in your own." -

"The moment of near despair is quite often the moment that precedes courage rather than resignation. In a sense, with the back to the wall and no exit but death or acceptance, the options narrow to one." - Christopher Hitchens

"Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the place where it leads." -

"The only rule is, do what you really, impulsively, wish to do. But always act on your own responsibility, sincerely. And have the courage of your own strong emotion." -

"The great virtue in life is real courage; it helps one to face facts and look beyond them." -

"It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong." - Abraham Lincoln

"Courage is the power to let go of the familiar." - Raymond Lindquist, fully Raymond Irving Lindquist

"I will be grateful for the twenty-four hours that are before me. Time is a precious commodity. I refuse to allow what little time I have to be contaminated by self-pity, anxiety, or boredom. I will face this day with the joy of a child and the courage of a giant. I will drink each minute as though it is my last. When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever. While it is here, I will use it for loving and giving. Today I will make a difference." - Max Lucado

"Each struggle, each defeat, sharpens your skills and strengths, your courage and your endurance, your ability and your confidence."" - Og Mandino

"Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats. Yet each struggle, each defeat, sharpens your skills and strengths, your courage and your endurance, your ability and your confidence and thus each obstacle is a comrade-in-arms forcing you to become better or quit. Each rebuff is an opportunity to move forward; turn away from them, avoid them, and you throw away your future." - Og Mandino

"The strangest, most generous, and proudest of all virtues is true courage." -

"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." -

"To him that waits, all things reveal themselves, provided that he has the courage not to deny, in the darkness, what he has seen in the light." -

"Courage is fear holding on a minute longer." -

"Alertness and courage are life's shield." - Philippine Proverbs, aka Philipino, Filipino, Ilocano and Tagalog Proverbs, Salawikain or Sawikain

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather, the judgment that something else is more important than fear." -

"The only security is courage." -