concept

bravery Quotes

100+ of the best book quotes about bravery
01
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“Only when we’re brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”
Brené Brown
author
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
book
bravery
light
darkness
concepts
02
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“I should’ve stepped in; fourth grade is no excuse. Besides, it doesn’t get easier with time, and twelve years later, when Vietnam presented much harder choices, some practice at being brave might’ve helped.”
Tim O'Brian
character
03
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“Mom sat there for the longest time, biting her cheek. Then she said, “People do change, you know. Maybe he’s had some revelations lately, too. And frankly, any boy who tries to kiss a girl in front of a room full of other kids does not sound like a coward to me.” She stroked my hair and whispered, “Maybe there’s more to Bryce Loski than you know.”
04
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“When I had the kite free, I needed a minute to rest. To recover before starting down. So instead of looking at the ground below me, I held on tight and looked out. Out across the rooftops. That’s when the fear of being up so high began to lift, and in its place came the most amazing feeling that I was flying. Just soaring above the earth, sailing among the clouds. Then I began to notice how wonderful the breeze smelled. It smelled like…sunshine. Like sunshine and wild grass and pomegranates and rain! I couldn’t stop breathing it in, filling my lungs again and again with the sweetest smell I’d ever known.”
05
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“But who fights ever hoping for success? I fought for lost cause, and for fruitless quest!”
06
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“Peter did not feel very brave; indeed, he felt he was going to be sick. But that made no difference to what he had to do.”
07
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“They gave her courage. The Pants mysteriously held the attributes of her three best friends, and luckily bravery was one of them. She would give the Pants what meager gifts she had, but courage was the thing she would take.”
08
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“The very small, brave part of her brain knew that this would be her one chance.”
09
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“Athenians, I shall only say a few words to you, but brave men require no more, and they are addressed more to your understanding than to your courage.”
10
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“I look up into those blue eyes that no amount of dramatic makeup can make truly deadly and remember how, just a year ago, I was prepared to kill him. Convinced he was trying to kill me. Now everything is reversed. I’m determined to keep him alive, knowing the cost will be my own life, but the part of me that is not so brave as I could wish is glad that it’s Peeta, not Haymitch, beside me.”
11
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“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
12
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“You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”
13
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“All the excuses in the world won’t change one simple fact: that fear is a sign to do whatever it is you fear—and do it quickly.”
14
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“Loyalty and devotion lead to bravery. Bravery leads to the spirit of self-sacrifice. The spirit of self-sacrifice creates trust in the power of love.”
15
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“As I took those two steps back, Margo took two equally small and quiet steps forward.”
16
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“The thought of drove him on, but he ran no more than a hundred feet, when he staggered and pitched headlong. It was his last panic. When he had recovered his breath and control, he sat up and entertained in his mind the conception of meeting death with dignity.”
17
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“So if we decide to be brave and stay in the conversation, how do we push through the vulnerability and stay civil? ... explicitly address the underlying intentions. What is the conversation about, and what is it really about?”
18
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“Carl Jung wrote, ‘Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life.’ We are complex beings who wake up every day and fight against being labeled and diminished with stereotypes and characterizations that don’t reflect our fullness. Yet when we don’t risk standing on our own and speaking out, when the options laid before us force us into the very categories we resist, we perpetuate our own disconnection and loneliness. When we are willing to risk venturing into the wilderness, and becoming our own wilderness, we feel the deepest connection to our true self and to what matters most. ”
19
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“The definition of vulnerability is uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. But vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our most accurate measure of courage. When the barrier is our belief about vulnerability, the question becomes: Are we willing to show up and be seen when we can’t control the outcome? When the barrier to vulnerability is about safety, the question becomes: Are we willing to create courageous spaces so we can be fully seen? A soft and open front is not being weak; it’s being brave, it’s being the wilderness.”
20
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“The willingness to show up changes us, It makes us a little braver each time.”
21
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“In her current situation, her family would die if she failed to act. She had to stand by her previous decision and carry out her plan, regardless of the consequences.”
22
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“Be brave enough to break your own heart.”
23
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″‘Why, Sir,’ said Lucy. ‘I think – I don’t know – but I think I could be brave enough.‘”
24
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″‘It was all Edmund’s doing, Aslan,’ Peter was saying. ‘We’d have been beaten if it hadn’t been for him. The Witch was turning our troops into stone right and left. But nothing would stop him. He fought his way through three ogres to where she was just turning one of your leopards into a statue. And when he reached her he had the sense to bring his sword smashing down on her wand instead of trying to go for her directly and simply getting made a statue himself for his pains.‘”
25
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“Lucy felt very frightened, but she felt inquisitive and excited as well. She looked back over her shoulder and there, between the dark tree-trunks, she could still see the open doorway of the wardrobe and even catch a glimpse of the empty room from which she had set out. (She had, of course, left the door open, for she knew that it is a very silly thing to shut oneself into a wardrobe.) It seemed to be still daylight there. “I can always get back if anything goes wrong,” thought Lucy.”
26
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“‘Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared, Starr,’ she says. ‘It means you go on even though you’re scared. And you’re doing that.’”
27
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“Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity set the expectations for behavior; they set a standard for our work. More than just a motto, for the men and women of the FBI, Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity is a way of life.”
28
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“From the corner of her eye she saw something bone white scamper from one tree trunk to another, closer and closer. She forced herself not to look at it.”
29
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″‘Because,’ she said, ‘when you’re scared but you still do it anyway, <em>that’s</em> brave.‘”
bravery
fear
concepts
30
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″‘In danger?’ thought Coraline to herself. It sounded exciting. It didn’t sound like a bad thing. Not really.”
31
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“For the men and women of the FBI, bravery is reflected not only in the physical courage often necessary in the job. It can be seen in the courage of conviction, in the courage to act with wisdom in the face of fear, and in the courage it takes to admit mistakes and move forward.”
32
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″‘I’m an explorer,’ said Coraline out loud, but her words sounded muffled and dead on the misty air. She had made it out of the cellar, hadn’t she?”
33
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“And then there was Tick. Brave little Tick, who had flown into the faces of an army of rats to save his baby sister. Tick - who never spoke much. Tick - who shared her food. Tick - who was after all just a roach. Just a roach who had given all the time she had left so that Boots could have more.”
34
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“You are strong and brave and you can get through this.”
35
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“My belly flipped with worry . . . It was up to me to take care of things, to find a place for us. I had to be bold.”
36
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″‘He paid a severe price to est the revenant-it was evidently a very close contest. Potion or no potion, your brother must have the heart of a lion!’ ‘He’s very brave,’ Kendra said, tears pooling in her eyes.”
37
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“I’m not brave any more darling. I’m all broken. They’ve broken me.”
38
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“Bravery without forethought, causes a man to fight blindly and desperately like a mad bull. Such an opponent, must not be encountered with brute force, but may be lured into an ambush and slain.”
Sun Tzu
author
bravery
war
concepts
39
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“He wasn’t strong because he wasn’t afraid. No, he was strong because he kept doing it even though he was afraid.”
40
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Fearless, we welcome whatever paths the dark side sets us on, and whatever destiny it lays out for us.
41
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“It wasn’t about loyalty. It was about him standing up for what he believed in. And I wanted to be my dad’s son. Someone who believed a better world was possible––someone who stood up for it.”
42
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“As I hike along, I feel certain I’m still holding the screen in the Capitol, so I’m careful to continue to hide my emotions. But what a good time Claudius Templesmith must be having with his guest commentators, dissecting Peeta’s behavior, my reaction. What to make of it all? Has Peeta revealed his true colors? How does this affect the betting odds? Will we lose sponsors? Do we even have sponsors? Yes, I feel certain we do, or did.”
43
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“After these years of experience I look with amazement upon our audacity in attempting flights with a new and untried machine under such circumstances.”
44
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“You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.”
45
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“For all the people who came before us, fighting this fight, I was here, screaming at the top of my lungs.”
46
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“He wished he could have explained some of this. How he had been braver than he ever thought possible, but how he had not been so brave as he wanted to be. The distinction was important.”
47
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“That’s the spirit, one part brave, three parts fool.”
48
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“I now walk into the wild.”
49
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“But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.”
50
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“She very soon came to an open field, with a wood on the other side of it: it looked much darker than the last wood, and Alice felt a little timid about going into it. However, on second thoughts, she made up her mind to go on: ‘for I certainly won’t go back,’ she thought to herself, and this was the only way to the Eighth Square.”
51
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“I am braver than I was because I have lost all; and he who has nothing to lose can afford all risks.”
52
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He looked at the little lady, and she looked at him. He felt himself melting away, but he still remained firm with his gun on his shoulder.
53
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“She did not bow her head in shame. She stood straight, her chin high. She wiped away the tears.”
54
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I am content in knowing I am as brave as any best that ever lived, if not braver.
55
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″‘Smarter than I ever was,’ her mom said. ‘And braver. I haven’t been on my own since the eighth grade.‘”
56
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I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals.
57
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“And people will say: ‘Let’s hear about Frodo and the Ring!’ And they’ll say: ‘Yes, that’s one of my favorite stories. Frodo was very brave, wasn’t he dad?’ ‘Yes, my boy, the famousest of the hobbits, and that’s saying a lot.‘”
58
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“Sam is an excellent fellow, and would jump down a dragon’s throat to save you, if he did not trip over his own feet.”
59
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“Weedon Scott had set himself the task of redeeming White Fang -- or rather, of redeeming mankind from the wrong it had done White Fang. It was a matter of principle and conscience. He felt that the ill done White Fang was a debt incurred by man and that it must be paid.”
60
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“He said we were making this move to learn about bravery and courage. That sounded awfully familiar.”
61
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“You sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”
62
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“Perhaps that was the beginning of it. Mafatu, the boy who had been christened Stout Heart by his proud father, was afraid of the sea.”
63
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Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this.
Homer
author
Odysseus
character
bravery
strength
concepts
64
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“You ought to be brave for two reasons- the first is that you are a Gascon, and the second is that you are my son. Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures.”
65
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“Regret is a tough but fair teacher. To live without regret is to believe you have nothing to learn, no amends to make, and no opportunity to be braver with your life.”
66
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“Keep the commission D’Artagnan-the profession of arms suits you; you will be a brave and adventurous captain.”
67
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“Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start. Courage is what you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and you discover they aren’t so tough after all.”
68
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“Then the thought of killing a wild boar in single-handed combat struck him dumb with wonder. Why, he would never have dreamed such a thing in Hikueru! He was Mafatu, the Boy Who Was Afraid.”
69
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“My mother was one of the first few blacks to integrate the University of Arkansas, graduating in 1954. Three years later, when Grandma discovered I would be one of the first blacks to attend Central High School, she said the nightmare that had surrounded my birth was proof positive that destiny had assigned me a special task.”
70
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“Fight on all occasions; fight the more for duels being forbidden, since, consequently, there is twice as much courage in fighting.”
71
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“You’ll make this your last cry. You’re a warrior on the battlefield for your Lord. God’s warriors don’t cry, ‘cause they trust that he’s always by their side.”
72
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“Bravery is always respected, even in an enemy.”
73
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“My mother was one of the first few blacks to integrate the University of Arkansas, graduating in 1954. Three years later, when Grandma discovered I would be one of the first blacks to attend Central High School, she said the nightmare that had surrounded my birth was proof positive that destiny had assigned me a special task.”
74
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“I found myself living among an enclave of students where I was the only person of color. I was doing it again integrating a previously all-white residence house, even though I had other options.”
75
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“They had three other sons at one time, but one son died when a tractor flipped over on him, one was killed when he skied into a tree, and the third died when he jumped into the freezing cold Ohio River to save his best friend (the best friend survived but my uncle did not).”
76
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“Fear is a hunter. But brave warriors, we brush away fear with a flick of the wrist. We laugh in the face of fear, kick it like a stone across the street.”
77
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“We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.”
Will
character
courage
bravery
concepts
78
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“Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.”
Four
character
courage
bravery
fear
concepts
79
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“I am selfish. I am brave.”
Tris Prior
character
bravery
concept
80
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“My mother’s death was brave. I remember how calm she was, how determined. It isn’t just brave that she died for me; it is brave that she did it without announcing it, without hesitation, and without appearing to consider another option.”
81
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“Because you’re from Abnegation,” he says, “and it’s when you’re acting selflessly that you are at your bravest.”
Four
Tris Prior
characters
bravery
selfless
concepts
82
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“You’re afraid of heights,” I say. “How do you survive in the Dauntless compound?” “I ignore my fear,” he says. “When I make decisions, I pretend it doesn’t exist.” I stare at him for a second. I can’t help it. To me there’s a difference between not being afraid and acting in spite of fear, as he does.”
Four
Tris Prior
characters
bravery
fear
concepts
83
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“I . . . looked in the mirror. . . . I was strong. I was pure. I had genuine thoughts inside that no one could see, that no one could ever take away from me. I was like the wind. . . . And then I draped the large embroidered red scarf over my face and covered these thoughts up. But underneath the scarf I still knew who I was. I made a promise to myself: I would always remember my parents’ wishes, but I would never forget myself.”
84
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“I won’t just have a job; I’ll have a calling. I’ll challenge myself every day. When I get knocked down, I’ll get back up. I may not be the smartest person in the room, but I’ll strive to be the grittiest.”
85
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“Then he did a very brave thing. He knew it wouldn’t hurt him quite as much as it would hurt a human […] But he knew it would hurt him badly enough; and so it did. With his bare foot he stamped on the fire, grinding a large part of it into ashes on the flat hearth.”
86
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“If it meant that I’d finally be able to put my grandfather’s mystery to rest and get on with my unextraordinary life, anything I had to endure would be worth it.”
87
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“I may be the last one, but I am the one still standing. I am the one not running, not staying, but facing.”
88
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“If I am the last one, then I am humanity. And if this is humanity’s last war, then I am the battlefield.”
89
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“He must face Moana, the Sea God- face him and conquer him. He must.”
90
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“Only the brave and the broken are kind in this world.”
91
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″... the former SEAL, with the infectious smile and abundant best friends, who served bravely in the Gulf War, who soared airborne on skis, surfboards and good times... lay stationary and silent.”
92
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“Ah, women and young girls, how incomprehensible are your feminine hearts! When you are not the timidest, you are the bravest of creatures.”
93
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“The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal.”
94
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“But never was a Fight manag’d so hardily, and in such a surprising Manner, as that which follow’d between Friday and the Bear, which gave us all (thought at first we were surpriz’d and afraid for him) the greatest Diversion imaginable.”
95
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“And when that time comes, Susanna, you must agree to come with me and tell what you know. Will you do that?” “Yes, Joseph.” “I will stand by you. You must not be afraid. This is a brave land, Susanna, founded by brave people who never shrank from their duty or their vision of freedom. But this land has a future only if each of us stands up for what is right when it is given us to do so.”
96
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“She’d also called me brave...unless she was talking to the catfish.”
97
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“Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood?”
98
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“It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.”
99
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“Books! And cleverness! There are more important things! — Friendship! And Bravery!”
100
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“One should never ignore bullies. One should stop them.”
101
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“Belonging so fully to yourself that you’re willing to stand alone is a wilderness--an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared...it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it’s the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand. ”
102
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“We can’t be brave in the big world without at least one small safe space to work through our fears and falls.”
103
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“Revolution might sound a little dramatic, but in this world, choosing authenticity and worthiness is an absolute act of resistance. Choosing to live and love with our whole hearts is an act of defiance. You’re going to confuse, piss off, and terrify lots of people - including yourself. One minute you’ll pray that the transformation stops, and the next minute you’ll pray that it never ends. You’ll also wonder how you can feel so brave and so afraid at the same time. At least that’s how I feel most of the time...brave, afraid, and very, very alive.”
104
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“The ultimate act of integration is when the rising strong process becomes a daily practice - a way of thinking about our emotions and our stories. Rather than running from our SFDs, we dig into them knowing they can unlock the fears and doubts that get in the way of our wholeheartedness. We know that rumbling is going to be tough, but we head straight into it because we know running is harder. We wade into the brackish delta with open hearts and minds because we’ve come to learn that the wisdom in the stories of our falls makes us braver.”
105
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“Each of the stories we tell and hear is like a small flicker of light - when we have enough of them, we will set the world on fire. But I don’t think we can do it without story. It doesn’t matter what community is in question or what the conflict appears to be on the surface, resolution and change will require people to own, share, and rumble with stories.”
106
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“Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery.”
107
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“On and on you will hike, And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.”
108
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“Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be.”
109
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“The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one?.”
110
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“The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one?.”
111
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“But you, brave and adept from this day on . . . there’s hope that you will reach your goal . . . the journey that stirs you now is not far off.”
Homer
author
112
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″‘Well,’ said I, ‘let the little orphan be yours. You bravely and kindly exerted yourself to save the mother’s life; now you must train her child carefully, for unless you do so its natural instinct will prove mischievous instead of useful to us.‘”
113
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It’s up to brave hearts, sir, to be patient when things are going badly, as well as being happy when they’re going well.
114
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Can a man still be brave if he’s afraid?
115
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“So the next time you encounter fear, consider yourself lucky. This is where the courage comes in. Usually we think that brave people have no fear. The truth is that they are intimate with fear.”
116
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“Bravery means doing something scary. Fearlessness means not even understanding what the word scary means.”
117
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“It is easier to conquer than to administer. With enough leverage, a finger could overturn the world; but to support the world, one must have the shoulders of Hercules.”
118
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“Love is only available to those willing to be continually brave in weakness.”
119
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“It’s OKAY to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave.”
120
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“Being brave enough to be alone frees you up to invite people into your life because you want them and not because you need them.”
121
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“He saw how hard Jude tried…he saw how determined he was, he saw how brave he was being. And this reminded him that he, too, had to keep trying. Both of them were uncertain; both of them were trying as much as they could; both of them would doubt themselves, would progress and recede. But they would both keep trying, because they trusted the other, and because the other person was the only other person who would ever be worth such hardships, such difficulties, such insecurities and exposure.”
122
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“She looked at him bravely now for the first time, at his face, the face from which a child had fled, and drew breath. She rose. Her eyes filled. She knew.”
123
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″‘I will be brave,’ thought Despereaux. ‘I will try to be brave like a knight in shining armor. I will be brave for Princess Pea.‘”
124
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″‘Once upon a time,’ he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him.”
125
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“It was only in the fairy tales that people were called upon to be so brave, to die for one another. Not in real-life Denmark.”
126
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“He swung the ancient sword high and struck at the giant adder. He struck for Redwall!”
127
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“Friends will take care of them. That’s what friends do.”
128
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“Even the strongest and bravest must sometimes weep. It shows they have a great heart, one that can show compassion for others. You are brave, Matthias. Already you have done great things for one so young. I am only a simple country-bred fieldmouse, but even I can see the courage and the leadership in you.”
129
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“He stood pressed against the inside wall of the cupboard, clutching his knife, rigid with terror, but defiant.”
130
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“Omri stuck his finger in his mouth and sucked it and thought how gigantic he must look to the tiny Indian and how fantastically brave he had been to stab him.”
131
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“The creatures didn’t move as she approached. They had never tried to hurt her, but she had a feeling that they were hiding their true nature.”
132
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Nobody believes her…until the wolves do plunge out of the walls, invading the house and rendering the family homeless. Lucy is the one who acts to glue the family together. With a Coralinesque bravery and a simple strategy, she goes back to save her stranded toy, Pig Puppet, and in the process they are able to get their house back.
133
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“It felt like a different Thomas that they were talking about, someone brave and strong who understood what had to be done, and felt no doubts.”
134
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“It was dark in the wood and they had to be brave, for things moved all around them.”
135
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“It takes guts to do that, I thought. Terrific guts.”
136
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“She confused being sick with being brave, and suffered agonies while imagining she merited praise for it.”
137
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“Don’t worry about dying, Elsa. Worry about not living. Be brave.”
138
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“Then suddenly, one day, Alex hears the voices of intruders who have forced their way into number 78, and he is filled with terror and dread. Courage and bravery are not unusual in times of war, but Alex is only eleven, and his story is really about the will to overcome cruelty and injustice.”
139
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“The little queen all golden, Flew hissing at the sea. To keep it back, To turn it back She flew forth bravely.”
140
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“Real power doesn’t come from having a million followers, good hair, a Louis Vuitton purse, a new car, a new home, a title, a partner, or anything that can be weighed, measured, or acquired. Real power is the thing you’ve always had inside you. Real power doesn’t need to be demonstrated or boasted. Real power is the ability to be in your skin, to know who you are, to know you will always be okay. Real power comes from your gut and your heart and your courage and your bravery and your love. Real power can never be taken away from you and never lost once it’s found.”
141
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″...she let go of the tree and dropped into the deep blue sky.”
142
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“Although the Paul Street Boys win the war, and little Nemecsek repeatedly demonstrates that his bravery and loyalty surpasses his size..”
143
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“Although the Paul Street Boys win the war, and little Nemecsek repeatedly demonstrates that his bravery and loyalty surpasses his size..”
144
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“There’s at least a hundred, thought Mrs. Brightner. I don’t dare to go outside... but I have to, because I forgot the blue silk thread. I have to go back to my flat to get it. I’ll just have to be brave... they’re only birds after all. They can’t hurt me...”
145
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″‘Let us all die bravely, and at once,’ said Robin, ‘rather than go on dying slowly in this miserable way.‘”
146
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″‘Well, this was a brave youth,’ said Pellinore, ‘and if he lives, will be a mighty knight.‘”
147
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“This book is about the bravery it takes for us to love someone when we all know how every love story ends.”
148
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“A truly brave man is ever serene; he is never taken by surprise; nothing ruffles the equanimity of his spirit.”
149
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“One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.”

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