Quotes Index
Courage Quotes
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." : Theodore Roosevelt. "Citizenship in a Republic," Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
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“It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs.” Albert Einstein
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“Action is the antidote to despair.” Joan Baez
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“To fight evil one must also recognize one's own responsibility. The values for which we stand must be expressed in the way we think of, and how we deal with, our fellow humans.” From the Christmas Message 2001 of HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
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“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” Mark Twain
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“It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition to stand up for it.” A. A. Hodge
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“Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.” Michel de Montaigne
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“The great only appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise.” James Larkin, Statue on O'Connell Street , Dublin , Ireland .
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“The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton Biography, reformer, writer, lecturer, 1815-1902
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“The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” Rosa Parks Biography, seamstress, Civil Rights Leader, 1913-2005
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“Those liberals who continue to inhale the intoxicant of bipartisanship had best sober up because Guantanamo beckons.” Carolyn Kay, Make Them Accountable
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“When faced with a choice between confronting an unpleasant reality and defending a set of comforting and socially accepted beliefs, most people choose the later course.” W. Lance Bennett
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“My father was a slave and my people died to build this country, and I'm going to stay right here and have a part of it, just like you. And no fascist-minded people like you will drive me from it. Is that clear?” Paul Robeson (1898-1976), from testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, June 12, 1956
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"My generation's apathy. I'm disgusted with it. I'm disgusted with my own apathy too, for being spineless and not always standing up against racism, sexism and all those other -isms the counterculture has been whinning about for years." Kurt Cobain (American Musician and Singer of the grunge rock band Nirvana. 1967-1994)
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"There's always time. . .to own up to things you're ashamed of, to change them. There's always time to start. And I think the starting is the most important thing. It takes courage. It takes a lot more courage than any vain feat of arms, let me tell you. It takes a lifetime to become a fool, and only a moment to begin to become wise." Peter Danielson, The Shepherd Kings
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"There are no brave men and cowardly men in the world, my son. There are only brave men. To be born, to live, to die -- that takes courage enough in itself, and more than enough. We are all brave men, and we are all afraid, and what the world calls a brave man, he, too, is brave and afraid like all the rest of us. Only he is brave for five minutes longer. Or sometimes ten minutes, or twenty minutes. . ." Alistair MacLean, The Guns of Navarone
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"...courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky." C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
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"A good argument diluted to avoid criticism is not nearly as good as the undiluted argument, because we best arrive at truth through a process of honest and vigorous debate. Arguments should not sneak around in disguise, as if dissent were somehow sinister. One should not be cowed by criticism."
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"In my humble opinion, those who come to engage in debates of consequence, and who challenge accepted wisdom, should expect to be treated badly. Nonetheless, they must stand undaunted. That is required. And that should be expected. For it is bravery that is required to secure freedom." Justice Clarence Thomas, Speech at the American Enterprise Institute, May 2001
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"One man with courage is a majority." - Thomas Jefferson