“A truly courageous person is not
someone who never feels fear, but who fears the right thing, at the right time,
in the right way.”—Aristotle
“I have learned over the years that
when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done
does away with fear.”— Rosa Parks
In my last
article, I mentioned that the author of ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People,’ Stephen
Covey, referred to humility as the mother of all virtues and to courage as
their father. Therefore, I posit that in the celestial kingdom of virtues,
courage is the gallant king while humility is the regal queen.
To drive
home Covey’s assertion, read what some of the great leaders, writers and
thinkers of the past have said regarding the preeminence of valour.
The noted British statesman, Winston Churchill
said:
“Courage is rightly esteemed, the first of
human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”
The theologian and essayist, C.S Lewis wrote:
“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but
the form of every virtue at the testing point.”
The Spanish novelist, Miguel de Cervantes stated:
“One who loses wealth loses much. One who
loses a friend loses more. But one who loses courage loses all.”
The American poet, Maya Angelou wrote:
“Courage is the most important of all virtues
because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”
The French writer, Anais Nin penned:
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to
one’s courage.”
The English essayist, Joseph Addison wrote:
“Courage is the thing. All goes if courage
goes.”
From the
foregoing, one can argue that courage is the greatest bounty of life. Without
courage, the storms of times will shatter all hope and meaning from anyone’s
life.
In this
direction, the philosopher and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson counseled:
“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever
course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.
There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics
are right.
To map out a course of
action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage
that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women
to win them.”
You see, to
thrive amidst the vicissitudes of life, we have to be bold and be tough. We
must challenge ourselves to become better in the face of, even the gloomiest of
obstacles. We must be daring to make use of any stumbling blocks as stepping
stones in the pursuit of our goals.
Furthermore,
to be the nimble heroes of our own lives, let’s always keep in mind that
setbacks don’t really count as long as our will to thrive is alive and strong.
In support of this, the Fourth Rightly Guided Caliph of the Islamic Empire, Ali
ibn Abu Talib (RA) said: “Courage is a ready victory and an obvious virtue.”
Ultimately,
the best form of courage is the courage for the sake of God. Since all power
belongs to God, this is the kind of courage that can never fail. Therefore it
is the kind of courage that should come before all others; it is the most
invincible form of mettle.
