Courage

The weak in courage is strong in cunning.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

The individual activity of one man with backbone will do more than a thousand men with a mere wishbone.
~ William J.H. Boetcker

There's no substitute for guts.
~ Paul William "Bear" Bryant

For one with courage, it never took a lifetime to begin living.
~ David William Cassidy

Perhaps in our presence, the most heroic deed on earth is done in some silent spirit, the loftiest purpose cherished, the most generous sacrifice made, and we do not suspect it. I believe this greatness to be most common among the multitude, whose names are never heard.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), An Introductory Address to the Franklin Lectures, Boston MA (1838). Self-Culture

There are seasons, in human affairs, of inward and outward revolution, when new depths seem to be broken up in the soul, when new wants are unfolded in multitudes, and a new and undefined good is thirsted for. These are periods when the principles of experience need to be modified, when hope and trust and instinct claim a share with prudence in the guidance of affairs, when, in truth, to dare is the highest wisdom.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), in The Christian Examiner (May 1829). The Union

Toll for the brave--
The brave! that are no more:
All sunk beneath the wave,
Fast by their native shore.
~ William Cowper, On the Loss of the Royal George (written 1782).

Ye fearful saints fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break,
In blessings on your head.
~ William Cowper, from Olney Hymns (1779). Book III: On the Rise, Progress, Changes, and Comforts of the Spiritual Life. Light Shining Out of Darkness

I am on a voyage of discovery. I search for those of you who will go on a great adventure . . . if you are one of those audacious few willing to dare and then to share . . . then come with me.
~ William H. Danforth, I Dare You! (1931).

I dare you, boys and girls, to make life obey you, not you it. It is only a shallow dare to do the foolish things. I dare you to do the uplifting, courageous things.
~ William H. Danforth, I Dare You! (1931).

I want you to start a crusade in your life -- to dare to be your best.
~ William H. Danforth

So that my life be brave, what though not long?
~ William Drummond (of Hawthornden), from Poems: Amorous, Funerall, Divine, Pastorall, in Sonnets, Songs, Sextains, Madrigals. (1616). Phoebus Arise

[T]here is but one coward on earth, and that is the coward that dare not know.
~ William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois, in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. XI (January 1898). The Study of the Negro Problems

Be scared. You can't help that. But don't be afraid. Ain't nothing in the woods going to hurt you unless you corner it, or it smells that you are afraid. A bear or a deer, too, has got to be scared of a coward the same as a brave man has got to be.
~ William Faulkner, in the Saturday Evening Post (9 May 1942). The Bear

Little boldness is needed to assail the opinions and practices of notoriously wicked men; but to rebuke great and good men for their conduct, and to impeach their discernment, is the highest effort of moral courage.
~ William Lloyd Garrison

Believers, look up -- take courage. The angels are nearer than you think.
~ Billy Graham, in Word, Inc. ANGELS, by Billy Graham (1975). Nearer Than You Think

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened.
~ Billy Graham, in Reader's Digest (July 1964). A Time for Moral Courage

They blow themselves up in order to get at us, and we launch 3 million dollar missiles off of giant floating iron islands 2000 miles away -- Who are the real cowards?
~ Bill Hicks, (1993).

It takes a great deal of courage to follow another person's lead.
~ Bill Hybels, Who Are You When No One's Looking (1987). An Endangered Trait

[T]o feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end, and a courage-fit will very likely replace the fit of fear.
~ William James, Talks to Teachers on Psychology: and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals (1899). The Gospel of Relaxation

The supreme courage of life is the courage of the soul. It is living, day by day, sincerely, steadfastly, serenely, -- despite all opinions, all obstacles, all opposition. It means the wine of inspiration from the crushed grapes of our sorrows. This courage makes the simplest life, great; it makes the greatest life -- sublime. It means the royal dignity of fine individual living.
~ William George Jordan

In no way was I intending to say, nor have I ever thought, that the men and women who defend our nation in uniform are anything but courageous and valiant, and I offer my apologies to anyone who took it wrong.
~ Bill Maher, Press Release (20 September 2001).

So when I say we had been the cowards, yes, that's what I meant, we as a society. And that's everybody, including myself. I had been screaming about the drug war and this war and other wars. I should have been more on terrorism, too. So should you, so should everybody.
~ Bill Maher, MSNBC (fall 2002). Hardball with Chris Matthews

We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly.
~ Bill Maher, ABC TV (17 September 2001). Politically Incorrect

Bravo, William, bravo, bravo, bravo . . .
~ Bishop Wilbert S. McKinley (remarks at the funeral service for Lance Cpl. William W. White, Elim International Fellowship Church, Brooklyn NY), The Associated Press (12 April 2003). New York Buries Second Marine In As Many Days

The road to positivity is strewn with the abandoned vehicles of the faint-hearted.
~ Peter McWilliams, You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought (1995). Part Two

I've had several years in Hollywood and I still think the movie heroes are in the audience.
~ Wilson Mizner

You learn you can do your best even when it's hard, even when you're tired and maybe hurting a little bit. It feels good to show some courage.
~ Joe "Willie" Namath

A great-souled hero must transcend the slavish thinking of those around him.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Live in danger. Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

One never dives into the water to save a drowning man more eagerly than when there are others present who dare not take the risk.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

What makes one heroic? -- Going out to meet at the same time one's highest suffering and one's highest hope.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Gay Science (1882). Book III

Heroing is one of the shortest-lived professions there is.
~ Will Rogers (in newspaper article, 15 February 1925), in The Will Rogers Book (1961).

This thing of being a hero, about the main thing to it is to know when to die. Prolonged life has ruined more men than it ever made.
~ Will Rogers, in The Autobiography of Will Rogers (1949).

We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.
~ Will Rogers

What guy has got the guts of Bill!
~ Robert William Service, Lyrics of a Low Brow (1951). My Hero

Boldness be my friend!
Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!
~ William Shakespeare, Cymbeline. Act I, scene vi

But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act I, scene vii

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
~ William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. Act II, scene ii

For courage mounteth with occasion.
~ William Shakespeare, King John. Act II, scene i

He is a very valiant trencher-man.
~ William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth

The better part of valour is discretion.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I. Act V, scene iv

The courageous captain of complements.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

We'll have a swashing and a martial outside, as many other mannish cowards have.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act I, scene iii

When valour preys on reason,
It eats the sword it fights with.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra

I would define true courage to be a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it.
~ William Tecumseh Sherman

The hymn of the low and the humble, the weary, the broken in heart,
Who strove and who failed, acting bravely a silent and desperate part.
~ William Wetmore Story, A Poet's Portfolio. Io Victis

So we sing the story
Of the brave and true,
Till among the heroes
We are heroes, too.
~ William George (W.G.) Tarrant, Marching With The Heroes (c. 1904 hymn)

Bravery never goes out of fashion.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Four Georges. George II

Let the man who has to make his fortune in life remember this maxim. Attacking is his only secret. Dare, and the world always yields: or, if it beat you sometimes, dare again, and it will succumb.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Luck of Barry Lyndon (1844). Chapter XIII: I Continue My Career As A Man Of Fashion

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?
~ Vincent Willem van Gogh, Quoted in Quotable Business (1992).

Today the man who is the real risk-taker is anonymous and nonheroic. He is the one trying to make institutions work.
~ John William Ward, in Time Magazine (17 November 1965).

Father hear the prayer we offer:
Not for ease that prayer shall be,
But for the strength that we may ever
Live our lives courageously.
~ Love Maria Willis, Father hear the prayer we offer (1856)

Merely for safety, after fame we thirst,
For all men would be cowards if they durst.
~ John Wilmot, Earl Of Rochester, A Satire Against Mankind (1675).

The opportunities for heroism are limited in this kind of world: the most people can do is sometimes not to be as weak as they've been at other times.
~ Angus Wilson, in Writers at Work, First Series (Interview; 1958).

Courage is a moral quality; it is not a chance gift of nature like an aptitude for games. It is a cold choice between two alternatives, the fixed resolve not to quit; an act of renunciation which must be made not once but many times by the power of the will.
~ Charles McMoran Wilson, The Anatomy of Courage (1967)

Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death.
~ Harold Wilson

I enjoy making people happy by performing and though my life has taken a few detours, my goals remain the same to this day. I still have goals to accomplish, because I'm still daring to dream.
~ Mary Wilson, in Merced County Fair publicity release (July 2001). Mary Wilson: She Is and Always Will Be Supreme

Still though chaos
Works on the ancient plan;
Two things have changed not
Since first the world began.
The beauty of the wild green earth
And the bravery of man.
~ T. P. Cameron Wilson, Still

If my words frighten thee, begone the sooner; for to be plain with thee, cowardice and I cannot dwell together.
~ William Wycherley, The Plain Dealer (1676). Act I, scene i