Courage

Courage is one of the 4 Stoic virtues. Virtue is the sole good, so it is extremely important. Courage is the ability to exert ones will in the face of risk. Aristotle said that the highest risk was death and that the most courageous man was the one that acted fearlessly in the face of death.

An interesting fact is that fear is always present. The courageous man does not feel less fear than the coward, however, he decides to act in spite of it and that is what makes him courageous. Just a quick intro to set some context.

Stoic quotes on courage.

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”

― Seneca “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations “Circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself.”

― Epictetus “The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations “You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire”

― Seneca, On the Shortness of Life “The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests. ”

― Epictetus

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