This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"Love is the most difficult and dangerous form of courage. Courage is the most desperate, admirable and noble kind of love." - Delmore Schwartz
"It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are. " - e. e. cummings, fully Edward Estlin Cummings
"You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity." - Epicurus NULL
"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. " - Erich Fromm, fully Erich Seligmann Fromm
"But courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility." - Erwin Rommel, fully Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel
"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." - Ezra Pound, fully Ezra Weston Loomis Pound
"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." - William George Jordan
"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." - Frances Wright, known as Fanny Wright
"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. " - Friedrich Nietzsche, fully Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
"It often takes more courage to change one's opinion than to stick to it." - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
"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. " - George Eliot, pen name of Mary Ann or Marian Evans
"Have the courage of your desire. " - George Gissing, fully George Robert Gissing
"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." - Günter Wilhelm Grass
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." - 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." - Richard Niebuhr, fully Helmut Richard Niebuhr
"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. " - Hans Urs von Balthasar
"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." - 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." - 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?" - Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller
"There is plenty of courage among us for the abstract but not for the concrete. " - Helen Keller. aka Helen Adams Keller
"To live we must conquer incessantly, we must have the courage to be happy." - Henri Frédéric Amiel
"Most affections are habits or duties we lack the courage to end." - Henry de Montherlant, fully Henry Marie Joseph Frédéric Expedite Millon de Montherlant
"People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest. " - Herman Hesse
"It is only when we have the courage to face things exactly as they are,without any self-deception or illusion, that a light will develop out of events,by which the path to success may be recognized." - I Ching, Book of Changes or Zhouyi NULL
"I agree with no man's opinion...The courage to believe in nothing. " - Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev
"Yoga is existential, experiential, experimental. No belief is required, no faith is needed – only courage to experience. And that’s what’s lacking. You can believe easily because in belief you are not going to be transformed. Belief is something added to you, something superficial. Your being is not changed; you are not passing through some mutation." - Osho, born Chandra Mohan Jain, also known as Acharya Rajneesh and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh NULL
"The test of character is: Do you have the courage to stand up for truth even though the heavens fall? Can you smile in trouble? Can you say "No" when evil tempts?" - Dada Vaswani, born Jashan Pahalraj Vaswani
"In the shadow of death he produces life, and though the senses are terrified, faith taking all for the best, is full of courage and assurance." - John-Pierre de Cassaude
"It is so often true that whether a person carries with him an atmosphere of gloom and depression or one of confidence and courage depends on his individual outlook. " - James Keller
"There are men and women who make the world better just by being the kind of people they are. They have the gift of kindness or courage or loyalty or integrity. It really matters very little whether they are behind the wheel of a truck or running a business or bringing up a family. The teach the truth by living it." - James A. Garfield
"It takes courage to know when you ought to be afraid." - James A. Michener, fully James Albert Michener
"True courage is a result of reasoning. A brave mind is always impregnable. " - Jeremy Collier
"What can be more honorable than to have courage enough to execute the commands of reason and conscience,--to maintain the dignity of our nature, and the station assigned us?" - Jeremy Collier
"The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow." - Jim Hightower, fully James Allen "Jim" Hightower
"All is not lost, the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and the courage never to submit or yield." - John Milton
"True courage is like a kite; a contrary wind raises it higher." - John Antoine Petit-Senn
"An unbelieved truth can hurt a man much more than a lie. It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There's a punishment for it, and it's usually crucifixion" - John Steinbeck, fully John Ernst Steinbeck
"Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts. " - John Wooden, fully John Robert Wooden
"He [Hitler] did not. But millions of Germans did betray their selves. That was the tragedy. Not that one man had the courage to be evil. But that millions had not the courage to be good." - John Fowles, fully John Robert Fowles
"The 21 Indispensible Qualities of a Leader CHARACTER: Be a Piece of the Rock CHARISMA: The First Impression Can Seal the Deal. COMMITMENT: It Separates Doers from Dreamers. COMMUNICATION: Without It You Travel Alone. COMPETENCE: If You Build It, They Will Come. COURAGE: One Person with Courage Is a Majority. DISCERNMENT: Put an End to Unsolved Mysteries. FOCUS: The Sharper It Is, the Sharper You Are. GENEROSITY: Your Candle Loses Nothing When It Lights Another. INITIATIVE: You Won’t Leave Home Without It. LISTENING: To Connect with Their Hearts, Use Your Ears. PASSION: Take This Life and Love It. POSITIVE ATTITUDE: If You Believe You Can, You Can. PROBLEM SOLVING: You Can’t Let Your Problems Be a Problem. RELATIONSHIPS: If You Get Along, They’ll Go Along. RESPONSIBILITY: If You Won’t Carry the Ball, You Can’t Lead the Team. SECURITY: Competence Never Compensates for Insecurity. SELF-DISCIPLINE: The First Person You Lead Is You. SERVANTHOOD: To Get Ahead, Put Others First. TEACHABILITY: To Keep Leading, Keep Learning. VISION: You Can Seize Only What You Can." - John C. Maxwell
"[Intellectual courage is] the quality that allows one to believe in one's judgement in the face of disappointment and widespread skepticism. Intellectual courage is even rarer than physical courage. " - John Charles Polanyi
"Darkness entered into, darkness realized, is the point of departure for all profound expressions of Christian hope. 'Meaningless darkness' becomes 'revelatory darkness' when it is confronted by the courage of a thoughtfulness and hope that is born of faith's quest for truth." - John Douglas Hall
"It is not that you must be free from fear. The moment you try to free yourself from fear, you create a resistance against fear. Resistance, in any form,does not end fear. What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it, not how to resist it through courage and so on. " - Jiddu Krishnamurti
"The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy." - John F. Kennedy, fully John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy
"For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us—recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state—our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions: First, were we truly men of courage—with the courage to stand up to one’s enemies—and the courage to stand up, when necessary, to one’s associates—the courage to resist public pressure, as well as private greed? Secondly, were we truly men of judgment—with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past—of our mistakes as well as the mistakes of others—with enough wisdom to know what we did not know and enough candor to admit it? Third, were we truly men of integrity—men who never ran out on either the principles in which we believed or the men who believed in us—men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust? Finally, were we truly men of dedication—with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and comprised of no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest? Courage—judgment—integrity—dedication—these are the historic qualities,with God’s help, characterize our Government’s conduct in the 4 stormy years that lie ahead." - John F. Kennedy, fully John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy
"The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are; but it is one of the most consistent with our character and our courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high — but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and this is the path of surrender or submission. Our goal is not victory of might but the vindication of right — not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved. " - John F. Kennedy, fully John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy
"The highest courage is to dare to appear to be what one is. " - John Lancaster Spalding
"The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time. " - John Stuart Mill