Here is a short collection of quotes on courage that I think are especially useful for entrepreneurs, who need the “courage to continue” to succeed.
Quotes on Courage for Entrepreneurs
I collect these quotes for entrepreneurs from a variety of sources and tweet them on @skmurphy about once a day where you can get them hot off the mojo wire. At the end of each month I curate them in a blog post that adds commentary and may contain a longer passage from the same source for context. Please enter your E-mail address if you would like to have new blog posts sent to you.
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“Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.”
Thomas Boswell “The Life of Samuel Johnson“
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“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily.
To not dare is to lose oneself.”
Soren Kierkegaard
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“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”
Michael Jordan
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“Have courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones.
When you have laboriously accomplished your daily tasks, go to sleep in peace.
God is awake.”
Victor Hugo
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“Facing it, always facing it, that’s the way to get through. Face it.”
Joseph Conrad in “Typhoon” [Gutenberg]
A longer passage from Typhoon to provide more context:
“Don’t you be put out by anything,” the Captain continued, mumbling rather fast. “Keep her facing it. They may say what they like, but the heaviest seas run with the wind. Facing it—always facing it—that’s the way to get through. You are a young sailor. Face it. That’s enough for any man. Keep a cool head.”
“Yes, sir,” said Jukes, with a flutter of the heart.
In the next few seconds the Captain spoke to the engine-room and got an answer.
For some reason Jukes experienced an access of confidence, a sensation that came from outside like a warm breath, and made him feel equal to every demand. The distant muttering of the darkness stole into his ears. He noted it unmoved, out of that sudden belief in himself, as a man safe in a shirt of mail would watch a point.
[…]
Captain MacWhirr was trying to do up the top button of his oilskin coat with unwonted haste. The hurricane, with its power to madden the seas, to sink ships, to uproot trees, to overturn strong walls and dash the very birds of the air to the ground, had found this taciturn man in its path, and, doing its utmost, had managed to wring out a few words. Before the renewed wrath of winds swooped on his ship, Captain MacWhirr was moved to declare, in a tone of vexation, as it were: “I wouldn’t like to lose her.”
He was spared that annoyance.
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“This is no time for ease and comfort.
It is the time to dare and endure.”
Winston Churchill
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“The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.”
Sophocles
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