Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Courage
I think the Romans call it Stoicism.
Addison—Cato. Act I. Sc. 4.
The soul, secured in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
Addison—Cato. Act V. Sc. 1.
The schoolboy, with his satchel in his hand,
Whistling aloud to bear his courage up.
Blair—The Grave. Pt. I. L. 58.
One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to flight better,
Sleep to wake.
Robert Browning—Epilogue. Asolando.
We are not downhearted, but we cannot understand what is happening to our neighbours.
Joseph Chamberlain—Speech at Southwick, Jan. 15, 1906.
A man of courage is also full of faith.
Cicero—The Tusculan Disputations. Bk. III. Ch. VIII. Yonge’s trans.
Sta come torre ferma, che non crolla
Giammai la cima per soffiar de’ venti.
Be steadfast as a tower that doth not bend its stately summit to the tempest’s shock.
Dante—Purgatorio. V. 14.
Whistling to keep myself from being afraid.
Dryden—Amphitryon. Act III. Sc. 1.
The charm of the best courages is that they are inventions, inspirations, flashes of genius.
Emerson—Society and Solitude. Courage.
Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend
To mean devices for a sordid end.
Courage—an independent spark from Heaven’s bright throne,
By which the soul stands raised, triumphant high, alone.
Great in itself, not praises of the crowd,
Above all vice, it stoops not to be proud.
Courage, the mighty attribute of powers above,
By which those great in war, are great in love.
The spring of all brave acts is seated here,
As falsehoods draw their sordid birth from fear.
Farquhar—Love and a Bottle. Part of dedication to the Lord Marquis of Carmarthen.
Stop shallow water still running, it will rage; tread on a worm and it will turn.
Robert Greene—Worth of Wit.
Few persons have courage enough to appear as good as they really are.
J. C. and A. W. Hare—Guesses at Truth.
Tender handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silks remains.
Aaron Hill—Verses Written on a Window.
O friends, be men, and let your hearts be strong,
And let no warrior in the heat of fight
Do what may bring him shame in others’ eyes;
For more of those who shrink from shame are safe
Than fall in battle, while with those who flee
Is neither glory nor reprieve from death.
Homer—Iliad. Bk. V. L. 663. Bryant’s trans.
Justum et tenacem propositi virum
Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
Non vultus instantis tyranni,
Mente quatit solida.
The man who is just and resolute will not be moved from his settled purpose, either by the misdirected rage of his fellow citizens, or by the threats of an imperious tyrant.
Horace—Carmina. III. 3. 1.
“Be bold!” first gate; “Be bold, be bold, and evermore be bold,” second gate; “Be not too bold!” third gate.
Inscription on the Gates of Busyrane.
On ne peut répondre de son courage quand on n’a jamais été dans le péril.
We can never be certain of our courage until we have faced danger.
La Rochefoucauld—Premier Supplément. 42.
Write on your doors the saying wise and old,
“Be bold! be bold!” and everywhere—“Be bold;
Be not too bold!” Yet better the excess
Than the defect; better the more than less;
Better like Hector in the field to die,
Than like a perfumed Paris turn and fly.
Longfellow—Morituri Salutamus.
What! shall one monk, scarce known beyond his cell,
Front Rome’s far-reaching bolts, and scorn her frown?
Brave Luther answered, “Yes”; that thunder’s swell
Rocked Europe, and discharmed the triple crown.
Lowell—To W. L. Garrison. St. 5.
Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
Matthew. XIV. 27.
I argue not
Against Heaven’s hand or will, nor bate a jot
Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer
Right onward.
Milton—Sonnet. To Cyriack Skinner.
Leve fit quod bene fertur onus.
The burden which is well borne becomes light.
Ovid—Amorum. I. 2. 10.
Animus tamen omnia vincit.
Ille etiam vires corpus habere facit.
Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.
Ovid—Epistolæ Ex Ponto. II. 7. 75.
Pluma haud interest, patronus an cliens probior sit
Homini, cui nulla in pectore est audacia.
It does not matter a feather whether a man be supported by patron or client, if he himself wants courage.
Plautus—Mostellaria. II. 1. 64.
Bonus animus in mala re, dimidium est mali.
Courage in danger is half the battle.
Plautus—Pseudolus. I. 5. 37.
Non solum taurus ferit uncis cornibus hostem,
Verum etiam instanti læsa repugnat ovis.
Not only does the bull attack its foe with its crooked horns, but the injured sheep will fight its assailant.
Propertius—Elegiæ. II. 5. 19.
Cowards may fear to die; but courage stout,
Rather than live in snuff, will be put out.
Sir Walter Raleigh—The night before he died. Bayley’s Life of Raleigh. P. 157.
C’est dans les grands dangers qu’on voit les grands courages.
It is in great dangers that we see great courage.
Regnard—Le Légataire.
Come one, come all! this rock shall fly
From its firm base, as soon as I.
Scott—Lady of the Lake. Canto V. St. 10.
Virtus in astra tendit, in mortem timor.
Courage leads to heaven; fear, to death.
Seneca—Hercules Œtæus. LXXI.
Fortuna opes auferre, non animum potest.
Fortune can take away riches, but not courage.
Seneca—Medea. CLXXVI.
You must not think
That we are made of stuff so fat and dull
That we can let our beard be shook with danger
And think it pastime.
Hamlet. Act IV. Sc. 7. L. 29.
O, the blood more stirs
To rouse a lion than to start a hare!
Henry IV. Pt. I. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 198.
The smallest worm will turn being trodden on,
And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood.
Henry VI. Pt. III. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 17.
Why, courage then! what cannot be avoided
’Twere childish weakness to lament or fear.
Henry VI. Pt. III. Act V. Sc. 4. L. 37.
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we’ll not fail.
Macbeth. Act I. Sc. 7. L. 59.
By how much unexpected, by so much
We must awake endeavour for defence;
For courage mounteth with occasion.
King John. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 80.
Muster your wits: stand in your own defence;
Or hide your heads like cowards, and fly hence.
Love’s Labour’s Lost. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 85.
He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age, doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion.
Much Ado About Nothing. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 13.
The thing of courage
As rous’d with rage doth sympathise,
And, with an accent tun’d in self-same key,
Retorts to chiding fortune.
Troilus and Cressida. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 51.
Ei di virilità grave e maturo,
Mostra in fresco vigor chiome canute.
Grave was the man in years, in looks, in word,
His locks were gray, yet was his courage green.
Tasso—Gerusalemme. I. 53.
Quod sors feret feremus æquo animo.
Whatever chance shall bring, we will bear with equanimity.
Terence—Phormio. I. 2. 88.
Who stemm’d the torrent of a downward age.
Thomson—The Seasons. Summer. L. 1,516.