Courage
There is a certain blend of courage, integrity, character, and principle which has no satisfactory dictionary name but has been called different things at different times in different countries. Our American name for it is “guts.”
– Louis Adamic, A Study in Courage (1944)
It takes courage to resist the peer pressure of your friends –– courage not to go with the crowd. It takes courage to face reality. Courage to admit need. Courage to change. Courage to make decisions. Courage to hold convictions. Success is not based on the ability to say yes, but on the ability to say no. Ask any successful man or woman. Ask anyone with honor or virtue who elicits your respect. They will tell you they learned how to say no. However, courage and firmness must be directed by knowledge. You must know what is right in order to know what to resist and what to yield to.
– Edwin Louis Cole, Courage
There are really no spur-of-the-moment decisions. Every decision a man makes is based on a lifetime of decisions which either enhanced or diminished his character. Courage is the ability to overcome fear and carry on with the mission. Moral courage, the courage of one’s convictions, is equally important. It takes a different kind of courage to stand up for what is morally right, particularly when others may want to act out of experience or self interest. An important aspect of duty is the courage of each of us to persevere in what we know is right and not make it easy for friends, peers, comrades, or superiors to do the wrong thing. Our professional ethic and individual values or moral principles must not be compromised because of the situation or circumstances.
– Field Manual 100-1
If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on.
– General George S. Patton, Jr., 19 Stars
It has been said that a strong man stands up for himself and a stronger man stands up for others. But I say that the strongest of men stand up for their testimony of Jesus Christ.
– Bill Rudge
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.
– Deuteronomy 31:6
