“ Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear. ”
Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894). copy citation
| Author | Mark Twain |
|---|---|
| Source | Pudd'nhead Wilson |
| Topic | courage fear mastery |
| Date | 1894 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/102/102-h/102-h.htm |
Context
“But water was preferable to fire, and still the stampede from the windows continued, and still the pitiless drenching assailed it until the building was empty; then the fire-boys mounted to the hall and flooded it with water enough to annihilate forty times as much fire as there was there; for a village fire-company does not often get a chance to show off, and so when it does get a chance it makes the most of it. Such citizens of that village as were of a thoughtful and judicious temperament did not insure against fire; they insured against the fire-company.
155 CHAPTER XII. The Shame of Judge Driscoll. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear. Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment to say it is brave; it is merely a loose misapplication of the word. Consider the flea!—incomparably the bravest of all the creatures of God, if ignorance of fear were courage.” source
155 CHAPTER XII. The Shame of Judge Driscoll. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear. Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment to say it is brave; it is merely a loose misapplication of the word. Consider the flea!—incomparably the bravest of all the creatures of God, if ignorance of fear were courage.” source
Meaning and analysis
