Courage
The virtue that holds firm in the face of danger, pain or fear for the sake of what is good.
Works to read
- The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, 1895
- The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, 1872
- The Railway Children by E. Nesbit, 1906
- Charmides, Lysis and Laches by Plato, c. 390s BC · Great Books
- Sophist by Plato, c. 360 BC · Great Books
- On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals (De Motu Cordis) by William Harvey, 1628 · Great Books
- The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian, c. 140 CE
- The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle, 1883
- The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, 1937
- On Medicine by Aulus Cornelius Celsus, c. 30 CE
- The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga) by Anonymous (Old Norse), 13th century
- Henry V by William Shakespeare, 1599
Passages
From the texts
It follows that Courage involves pain and is justly praised, since it is a harder matter to withstand things that are painful than to abstain from such as are pleasant.
— Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics
Verified quotations
I should say that courage is a sort of endurance of the soul
— Plato, Charmides, Lysis and Laches
That the contrary of a good is an evil is shown by induction: the contrary of health is disease, of courage, cowardice, and so on
— Aristotle, Categories
We too must endure and persevere in the enquiry, and then courage will not laugh at our faint-heartedness in searching for courage
— Plato, Charmides, Lysis and Laches
Because courage, when untempered by the gentler nature during many generations, may at first bloom and strengthen, but at last bursts forth into downright madness.
— Plato, Statesman
The better part of valour is discretion
— William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1
He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.
— Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage
Passages are verified quotations from the library that use one of these words: courage, courageous, brave, bravery, valour, valor. Sentences under “From the texts” are copied word for word from the full texts in this library. Read each in its context on the work's page.