Joan Didion’s ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ comes to mind as an example of a piece of media that I really respect and would hope to emulate: just her courage in looking at her husband’s death and the attentiveness that she has in how she looks at it, and the unflinching gaze that she communicates from looking into death.
For this equilibrium now in sight, let us trust that mankind, as it has occurred in the greatest periods of its past, will find for itself a new code of ethics, common to all, made of tolerance, of courage, and of faith in the Spirit of men.
Navigating a nonsober world of restaurants and bars, dinner parties, and benefits is like anything that requires practice. Like tennis or a foreign language, it gets easier the more you do it. But like all beginnings, it can be awkward. You stumble, you worry, and then there are unexpected moments of grace that give you the courage to keep going.
Scientists tend to come in two stripes: those who have tremendous appetite and aptitude for the details, and those who illuminate the big picture. Sagan was definitely in the latter category, and he was profoundly good at it. He made connections that others did not have the intellectual breadth or courage to make.
My mom being raised in England, her father always wanted to pursue the arts and wanted to have a stage career in England. According to her, he never had the courage to actually pursue it full-time. I think that my grandfather’s parents thought that it wasn’t a formidable job to have.
When somebody who makes movies for a living – either as an actor, writer, producer or director – lives to be a certain age, you have to admire them. It is an act of courage to make a film – a courage for which you are not prepared in the rest of life. It is very hard and very destructive. But we do it because we love it.
I have given up the idea that there is an opposition-free church out there. But I have gained something else – an appreciation for the gift of opposition. When it comes, I learn something about my motives. When it comes, I get to test my courage.
I had a long time admiration for the Jewish people. Especially with their long time of courage, taking so much abuse for so long. I was only seven years old, but I could easily see the ungodly treatment that the white folks were handing the poor Jewish family whom I worked for.
We are in the midst of a momentous catastrophe of world history, of a transformation of all aspects of life and of the entire inner human being This is perhaps fortunate for the artistic person, if he is strong enough to bear the consequences, because what we need is the courage to have inner experience.
I have spent a great deal of my life being part of minorities. Some of the people I admire the most in the world have had the courage to defend, against wind and tide, minority viewpoints in those frightening times when any disagreement with universal conformity is identified as treason.
You can look at any industry and sector and then figure out how high is your glass ceiling. Do you want to diversify or do you want to penetrate the ceiling? Because the ones who break the glass ceiling are going to be big-time winners, but it will be a longer-term view on things and requires a lot more courage, a lot more guts.
I’m sick of all these labels and these manufactured subdivisions of music that don’t even exist. And even though I’m pierced myself, I’m sick of everyone equating body piercing with musical courage. If you ask me, it takes a lot more than that.
When our mothers are alive and healthy, they do extraordinary things… like the mothers of Plaza de Mayo, who marched in Argentinean plazas, defying the military junta dictatorship and demanding the whereabouts of their abducted children… or the Liberian mothers who faced down civil war armed only with T-shirts and courage.
I remember having friends in high school that did the theater department stuff, and I always wanted to try it but never had the guts to. I was the class clown but could never really build up the courage to try it. I took one acting class and really enjoyed it.
When the first armies were formed, combat took courage, which women share equally with men, and strength, which we do not. But though I am only 4 feet 7 inches tall, with a gun in my hand I am the equal of a soldier who’s 6 feet 7 – perhaps even at a slight advantage, as I make a smaller target.
When we read stories of heroes, we identify with them. We take the journey with them. We see how the obstacles almost overcome them. We see how they grow as human beings or gain qualities or show great qualities of strength and courage and with them, we grow in some small way.
Some people call it the ‘Al Jazeera spirit’ – courage, re-thinking authority, giving a voice to the voiceless. We have never been favored by the authority. The human being is the center of our editorial policy. We are not a TV station that rushes after stars, big names, press conferences, hand-shake journalism.
The most memorable interviews for me are folks whose names I don’t know: young civil rights leaders in the South, showing great courage as they walked into a town in the dark of night. A doctor working for ‘Doctors Without Borders’ in Somalia, operating by kerosene light in a tent. Those are the kinds of people that linger in your memory.
Athletes are used to battling. The public would never learn their names if professional athletes had not shown courage at an early age. They learn they can overcome, but sometimes this becomes a false sense of security that leads them to the edge.
For years, I’ve admired wrist tattoos, but I was always afraid that they would hurt – I’m kind of a weenie about pain. In fact, it’s why I wear so many bracelets on my left wrist. The bracelets represented the words or phrases I’d want to get tattooed but didn’t have the courage to.
Different parts of the world have different attitudes to failure. Arguably, it may take more courage to be an entrepreneur in Sydney, or Paris, or London, or Japan, or Singapore… but an entrepreneur sees the world for what it could be, not what it is.
The #MeToo movement doesn’t belong to Republicans or the Democrats. The #MeToo movement belongs to women who are having the courage to come forward and say this is wrong. People should be protected. We want that for all of our daughters and all of our sisters. We also want there to be rights for the accused.
Alex Dumas was a consummate warrior and a man of great conviction and moral courage. He was renowned for his strength, his swordsmanship, his bravery, and his knack for pulling victory out of the toughest situations. But he was known, too, for his profane back talk and his problems with authority.
St. Paul did not want the sufferings encountered by being a Christian to discourage or dishearten anyone. He realized that when the Christian saw the blessings and grace that poured upon him after his trials, he would gain courage to suffer in his turn.
If elected Speaker, I promise you that we will have the courage to lead the fight for our conservative principles and make our case to the American people. But we will also have the wisdom to listen to our constituents and each other so that we always move forward together.
