quotations about cowardice
I think before I act--and then think again. I am not entirely a coward, but I do not lose myself in action as you do.
JOHN CHRISTOPHER
Beyond the Burning Lands
A coward isn't someone who is afraid, or even who backs down sometimes; a coward is someone who won't defend what he or she believes in, or what he or she holds precious. So courage and integrity go hand in hand.
SARA DIMERMAN
Character Is the Key
The coward calls himself cautious.
SYRUS
Maxims
I'm a coward. Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell myself I'm not doing it!
DIANA WYNNE JONES
Howl's Moving Castle
A fellow running from or toward a gun ain't got time to worry whether the word for what he is doing is courage or cowardice.
WILLIAM FAULKNER
Light in August
When all the blandishments of life are gone,
The coward sneaks to death, the brave live on.
GEORGE SEWELL
The Suicide
Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.... Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all.
OSCAR WILDE
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Excessive fear withers us, and the cowards are like desiccated relics of human beings.
CAROLINE REICHARD
Some Grace Under Pressure
Cowards do not count in battle; they are there, but not in it.
EURIPIDES
fragment, Meleager
Haters and bullies are always cowards, you know. They like to pick on little guys.
SCYLAR TYBERIUS
Sebastian the Great
Shame never came into it. He embraced his new identity as a coward. He would run in the other direction. He would lie down and cry and put his arms over his head or play dead. It didn't matter what he had to do, he would do it and be glad.
LEV GROSSMAN
The Magicians
Being afraid you'll look like a coward is the worst reason for doing anything.
JOHN IRVING
The Cider House Rules
Cowards are nice, they're interesting, they're gentle, they wouldn't think of shooting down people in a parade from a tower. They want to live, so they can see their kids.
WILLIAM SAROYAN
Madness in the Family
A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
The Children of Hurin
There never was found a man who had courage to acknowledge himself a coward.
JOSEPH BARTLETT
Aphorisms
You souls of geese,
That bear the shapes of men, how have you run
From slaves that apes would beat!
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Coriolanus
For cowards the rode of desertion should be left open. They will carry over to the enemy nothing but their fears.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
COWARD, n. One who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs.
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Devil's Dictionary
To wish for death is a coward's part.
OVID
Metamorphoses
Cowards' weapons neither cut nor pierce.
MEASTASIO
attributed, Day's Collacon