Courage

I have never considered myself a particularly brave person.  I prefer avoiding conflict if I can.  There are people in this world of whom I am genuinely afraid.  And I do not consider myself to be an expert on how to deal with such fear.  So I would like to list a few people whose works and lives I admire, and whom I see as people who were or are truly- brave.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton: "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."


Mahatma Gandhi: "Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:

- I shall not fear anyone on Earth.
- I shall fear only God.
- I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
- I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
- I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering."


Winston Churchill: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts."


J.R.R. Tolkien: "Courage is found in unlikely places."


Martin Luther King Jr.: "Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles;
Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances.
Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it.
Cowardice asks the question, is it safe?
Expediency ask the question, is it politic?
Vanity asks the question, is it popular?

But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right."


J.K. Rowling: "'Harry - you're a great wizard, you know.'
'I'm not as good as you,' said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him.
'Me!' said Hermione. 'Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!'"

Christopher Paolini: "Without fear there cannot be courage."


Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the drivers of the suffrage movement, and was instrumental in getting women the right to vote.
Mahatma Gandhi protested peacefully for the independence of Indians in British-ruled India.
Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of England during World War II. 
J.R.R. Tolkien fought in World War I and wrote several books that possessed at their core, truths about courage and honor, and doing good despite fear.
Martin Luther King Jr. struggled for civil rights for all people, armed with the dream that people should be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Christopher Paolini graduated from high school when he was fifteen, wrote his first book shortly after that, and was on the New York Times bestseller list when he was nineteen.
J.K. Rowling gave the world Harry Potter, and taught the world that no matter one's circumstances, one can always do what is right.