Courage is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. "Physical courage" is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of death, while "moral courage" is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.
In some traditions, fortitude holds approximately the same meaning as courage. In the Western tradition, notable thoughts on courage have come from philosophers such as Aristotle, Aquinas and Kierkegaard; in the Eastern tradition, some thoughts on courage were offered by the Tao Te Ching. More recently, courage has been explored by the discipline of psychology.
Read more about Courage: Symbolism, Awards, As A Strength in Psychology
Famous quotes containing the word courage:
“I sang as one
Who on a tilting deck sings
To keep men’s courage up, though the wake hangs
That shall cut off their sun.”
—Cecil Day Lewis (1904–1972)
“Men especially need to communicate. To tell people years after the fact that they were the priority is the coward’s way. If men can muster the courage to fire an employee, tell off a boss, or assume financial risk, they can dig deep and say the three little words their wives and children need to hear.”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)
“What we take for virtue is often but an assemblage of various ambitions and activities that chance, or our own astuteness, have arranged in a certain manner; and it is not always out of courage or purity that men are brave, and women chaste.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)