A Symbol of Cowardice
The white feather as a symbol of cowardice supposedly comes from cockfighting and the belief that a cockerel sporting a white feather in its tail is likely to be a poor fighter. Pure-breed gamecocks do not show white feathers, so its presence indicates that the cockerel is an inferior cross-breed.
Read more about this topic: White Feather
Famous quotes containing the words symbol and/or cowardice:
“A pool is, for many of us in the West, a symbol not of affluence but of order, of control over the uncontrollable. A pool is water, made available and useful, and is, as such, infinitely soothing to the western eye.”
—Joan Didion (b. 1934)
“When cowardice is made respectable, its followers are without number both from among the weak and the strong; it easily becomes a fashion.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)