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Cowardice quotes

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“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar” - 1623

“this cult of the future is not only a weakness but a cowardice of the age.” G. K. Chesterton, “What's Wrong with the World” - 1910

“No arguments will give courage to the coward.” Aesop, “Aesop's Fables”

“To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.” Confucius, “Analects”

“The man who grounds his action on another's cowardice, is essentially a coward himself.” George MacDonald, “Lilith” - 1895

“For, all the three years, he had carefully avoided her in consequence of that natural cowardice that characterises the stronger sex.” Gustave Flaubert, “Madame Bovary” - 1856

“There are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice.” Mark Twain, “Following the Equator” - 1897

“I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.” Charles Dickens, “Great Expectations” - 1861

“People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves.” Albert Camus, “The Fall” - 1956

“The suffering may be moral or physical; and in my opinion it is just as absurd to call a man a coward who destroys himself, as to call a man a coward who dies of a malignant fever.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “The Sorrows of Young Werther” - 1774

“I'm very brave generally . . . only to-day I happen to have a headache.” Lewis Carroll, “Through the Looking-Glass” - 1871

“That which in mean men we entitle patience is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts.” William Shakespeare, “Richard II” - 1595

“Coward dogs most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten runs far before them.” William Shakespeare, “Henry V” - 1600

“It was as though, so long as the deceit ran along quiet and monotonous, all of us let ourselves be deceived, abetting it unawares or maybe through cowardice, since all people are cowards and naturally prefer any kind of treachery because it has a...” William Faulkner, “As I Lay Dying” - 1930

“They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument is, on the other hand, a great emboldener; and so when each had said his say, my mother made them a speech.” Robert Louis Stevenson, “Treasure Island” - 1883

“I suppose that we women are such cowards that we think a man will save us from fears, and we marry him.” Bram Stoker, “Dracula” - 1897

“Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned, All cowardice must needs be here extinct.” Dante Alighieri, “Divine Comedy” - 1320

“My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“Maybe a specialist is only a coward, afraid to look out of his little cage.” John Steinbeck, “East of Eden” - 1952

“But when you disarm them, you at once offend them by showing that you distrust them, either for cowardice or for want of loyalty, and either of these opinions breeds hatred against you.” Niccolò Machiavelli, “The Prince” - 1532

“Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won't make time stand still.” Haruki Murakami, “Kafka on the Shore” - 2002

“with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries.” Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein” - 1818

“It may therefore be judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion, but when I see a fellow creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I know of her character.” Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein” - 1818

“Conscience and cowardice are really the same things, Basil. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“in my cowardice I became at once a man, and did what all we grown men do when face to face with suffering and injustice; I preferred not to see them” Marcel Proust, “Swann's Way” - 1913

Related topics

courage bravery suffering right men women death conscience mind marriage fear speech future friendship betrayal weakness slavery hate good wrong

Related authors

William Shakespeare (3)
Mary Shelley (2)
Oscar Wilde (1)
William Faulkner (1)
Mark Twain (1)
Lewis Carroll (1)
Charles Dickens (1)
G. K. Chesterton (1)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1)
Bram Stoker (1)
Confucius (1)
George MacDonald (1)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1)
Dante Alighieri (1)
Frederick Douglass (1)
Albert Camus (1)
Haruki Murakami (1)
John Steinbeck (1)
Marcel Proust (1)
Aesop (1)

Related sources

Frankenstein (2)
Julius Caesar (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
As I Lay Dying (1)
Richard II (1)
Henry V (1)
What's Wrong with the World (1)
Treasure Island (1)
Dracula (1)
Analects (1)
Lilith (1)
The Sorrows of Young Werther (1)
Divine Comedy (1)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1)
East of Eden (1)
Swann's Way (1)
Aesop's Fables (1)
Madame Bovary (1)
The Prince (1)
Kafka on the Shore (1)