To face despair and not give in to it, that's courage.--Ted Koppel, ABC News commentator

"To accept whatever comes, regardless of the consequences, is to be unafraid." --John Cage

Optimism is the foundation of courage. - --Nicholas Murray Butler

That's what it takes to be a hero, a little gem of innocence inside you that makes you want to believe that there still exists a right and wrong, that decency will somehow triumph in the end. --Lise Hand, British Journalist

The greatest test of courage is to bear defeat without losing heart. --Robert Green Ingersoll, American lawyer and orator

The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.--Anon.

Fighting is like champagne. It goes to the heads of cowards as quickly as of heroes. Any fool can be brave on a battlefield when it's be brave or else be killed. - Margaret Mitchell

I was strongest when I laughed at my weakness. --Elmer Diktonius

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority; the test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority. -- Ralph W. Stockton

"A hero is a man who does what he can."--Romain Rolland

"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential." --Maya Angelou

"What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?" --Logan Pearsall Smith

The brave don't live forever, but the cautious don't live at all. Here's to the brave!~ Timothy Luce

We are made strong by the difficulties we face not by those we evade.~Unknown

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.--Anais Nin

"Courage is a special kind of knowledge; the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared." -David Ben-Gurion

What's the difference between a hero and a coward? Nothing. They're both afraid of getting hurt or dying, but it's what the hero does that makes him a hero, and what the coward doesn't do that makes him a coward.--Unknown

"Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others. "-- Robert Louis Stevenson

"Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway."--John Wayne

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction."--E. F. Schumacher

Don't be afraid to take a big step. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. -David Lloyd George

"One man with courage makes a majority."--Andrew Jackson

"To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so." --Sir Walter Scott

"Grant me the courage not to give up, even though I think it's hopeless."--Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

"Courage is clearly a readiness to risk self-humiliation."--Nigel Dennis

"The only kind of courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next."--Mignon McLaughlin

"Courage is always the surest wisdom."--Sir Wilfred Grenfell

"Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. - Ambrose Redmoon

"Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use. -- Ruth Gordon

"I think we should follow a simple rule: if we can take the worst, take the risk."--Dr. Joyce Brothers

"Wealth lost - something lost; Honor lost - much lost; Courage lost - all lost."--German proverb

"Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without it we can't practice any other virtue with consistency."--Maya Angelou

"To play it safe is not to play."--Robert Altman

"Heroes are people who rise to the occasion and slip quietly away." -- Tom Brokaw

The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart. --Robert G. Ingersoll

Assassinate me you may; intimidate me you cannot.--John Philpot Curran, Irish Lawyer and Politician (1798)

"Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?"--Frank Scully

History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats. --Bertie Charles Forbes, Publisher

"To be a genuine individualist requires a great deal of strength and courage. It is never easy to chart new territory, to cross new frontiers, or to introduce subtle shadings to an established color."--Toller Cranston