“Boys [should be] inured from childhood to trifling risks and slight dangers of every possible description, such as tumbling into ponds and off of trees, etc., in order to strengthen their nervous system... They ought to practice leaping off heights into deep water. They ought never to hesitate to cross a stream over a narrow unsafe plank for fear of a ducking. They ought never to decline to climb up a tree, to pull fruit merely because there is a possibility of their falling off and breaking their necks. I firmly believe that boys were intended to encounter all kinds of risks, in order to prepare them to meet and grapple with risks and dangers incident to man’s career with cool, cautious self-possession...”
“The fact is that in order to do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.”
Source: Dictionary Of Burning Words Of Brilliant Writers: A Cyclopaedia Of Quotations, From The Literature Of All Ages
“Courage, Love, Illusion (or dream, if you will) -- he who possesses all three, or two, or at least one of these things wins whatever there is to win; those who lack all three are the failures.”
Source: The Tenants of Moonbloom
“He is half of my soul, as the poets say.”
Source: The Song of Achilles
“Are there weapons in a bookstore?'
'It's a store full of books, which are objects that can be thrown as well as read,' Monty replied blandly.
The Crows cocked his head. 'I had no idea you humans lived with so much danger.”
Source: Murder of Crows
“We have to show these men and women freedom by enslaving them, and show them courage by frightening them.”
Source: Fight Club
“Courage for the big troubles in life, lad' he'd say, 'and patience for the small. Be of good cheer. God is awake.”
Source: My Dear I Wanted to Tell You
“There is no magic herb that makes a brave man. Courage is knowing that what you do is necessary. Don't doubt yourself, Shadow. There is more valor in your heart than you realize.”
Source: The King's Shadow
“Courage is not beating up the bully or letting the bully beat you up, it is standing strong before the bully and seeing him for what he truly is: a child of God in need of an attitude adjustment.”
“It wasn't who a person believed himself to be or what he pretended he would do in a given situation. It was what he did when he got there that defined him.”
Source: Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See