Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was an English playwright and poet, author of some thirty-eight plays and a hundred and fifty-four sonnets. He wrote for the public theatre and for audiences of every rank, and his effect on the English language is such that a great many of his phrases are now ordinary speech.
About this theme: Courage
Aristotle placed courage precisely between cowardice and recklessness, settling a confusion that still recurs. Courage is not the absence of fear — that would be insensibility, which is not a virtue but a failure of judgement. Courage is acting despite fear, and it assumes the fear is present and warranted.
More by William Shakespeare
- All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
- Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
- There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
- How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
- The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
More on Courage
- Fortune favors the bold.— Latin Proverb
- I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.— Louisa May Alcott
- No one knows what he can do till he tries.— Publilius Syrus
- Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own understanding.— Immanuel Kant
- Courage is knowing what not to fear.— Plato