Heroism Quotes - Page 13

• If sub specie aeternitatis [from eternity's point of view] there is no reason to believe that anything matters, then that does not matter either, and we can approach our absurd lives with irony instead of heroism or despair.

  Thomas Nagel

  Inspirational, Life, Believe

  "Mortal questions". Book by Thomas Nagel, 1979.

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• I think empathy is a guy who punches you in the face at a bus station, and you're somehow able to look at that him and know enough about what situation he was in to know that he had to do that and not to hit back. That's empathy, and nothing ever happens in writing that has that kind of moral heroism about it.

  John Jeremiah Sullivan

  Writing, Thinking, Empathy

  Interview with Allie Tollaksen, ndsmcobserver.com. January 22, 2014.

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• I have come to think that great men are characterized precisely by the extreme position which they take, and that their heroism consists in holding to that extremity throughout their lives.

  Marguerite Yourcenar

  Men, Thinking, Position

  Marguerite Yourcenar (1957). “Hadrian's Memoirs”

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• The universe appears to me like an immense, inexorable torture-garden…Passions, greed, hatred, and lies; social institutions, justice, love, glory, heroism, and religion: these are its monstrous flowers and its hideous instruments of eternal human suffering.

  Octave Mirbeau

  Lying, Flower, Passion

  Octave Mirbeau (2016). “Torture Garden”, p.149, Library of Alexandria

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• On a normal day, we value heroism because it is uncommon. On Sept. 11, we valued heroism because it was everywhere.

  Nancy Gibbs

  Normal, Sept 11, Uncommon

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• Children demand that their heroes should be fleckless, and easily believe them so .

  George Eliot

  Children, Believe, Hero

  George Eliot (2016). “Daniel Deronda”, p.199, George Eliot

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• Today the economic development of Armenia is as important as victory in the war was yesterday. Our battle has moved from the field of blood and heroism, to the economic field.

  Vazgen Sargsyan

  War, Blood, Yesterday

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• From an over-arching point-of-view, in war there is heroism on both sides. Obviously, the victor gets the spoils, the victor gets to write history, but there's heroism and compassion on both sides, and to me that's very important.

  Russell Crowe

  War, Writing, Compassion

  "The Water Diviner - Russell Crowe interview". Interview with Rob Carnevale, www.indielondon.co.uk.

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• All peace-loving women shut up when they sense they have stepped onto Guy Turf. Guy Turf is a murky realm of ego and pride and chivalry and testosterone and heroism.

  Jeanne Marie Laskas

  Pride, Guy, Ego

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• To judge by the event is an error all commit: for in every instance courage, if crowned with success, is heroism; if clouded by defeat, temerity. When Nelson fought his battle in the Sound, it was the result alone that decided whether he was to kiss a hand at court or a rod at a court-martial.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Success, Kissing, Errors

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.231

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• Our national fondness for celebrating the physical heroism of soldiers - the apparent readiness with which they sacrifice their lives to larger causes - eclipses the far less romantic displays of moral and intellectual fortitude that also distinguish so many of them. In turning them all into heroes, we have lost a sense of the individuality they also fight to preserve.

  Elizabeth Samet

  War, Hero, Fighting

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• Is society debasing the idea of heroism by using it to describe anyone who makes people feel good about themselves?

  Lena Williams

  Hero, Ideas, People

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• Mostly the subject of the photograph, which can be anyone really, coming down the street - someone that has no idea. "Heroism" in photography, just like in a novel, is for everyone.

  Hedi Slimane

  Photography, Ideas, Novel

  Source: www.cnn.com

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• I think we must cling to the hope that we can see in the great heroism, the bravery of the firemen and policemen, and the outpouring of caring and concern that has come pouring in from around the world.

  Jane Goodall

  Caring, Thinking, Bravery

  "Dr. Jane Goodall: Healing and possibility of peace". Live chat, www.cnn.com. September 27, 2001.

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• I think that the heroism which at this day would make on us the impression of Epaminondas and Phocion must be that of a domestic conqueror. He who shall bravely and gracefully subdue this Gorgon of Convention and Fashion, and show men how to lead a clean, handsome and heroic life amid the beggarly elements of our cities and villages; whoso shall teach me how to eat my meat and take my repose and deal with men, without any shame following, will restore the life of man to splendor, and make his own name dear to all history.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Fashion, Men, Thinking

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• No man, perhaps, is so wicked as to commit evil for its own sake. Evil is generally committed under the hope of some advantage the pursuit of virtue seldom obtains. Yet the most successful result of the most virtuous heroism is never without its alloy.

  Benjamin Haydon

  Successful, Men, Evil

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• But, if we explore the literature of Heroism, we shall quickly come to Plutarch, who is its Doctor and historian. To him we owe the Brasidas, the Dion, the Epaminodas, the Scipio of old, and I must think we are more deeply indebted to him than to all the ancient writers. Each of his "Lives" is a refutation to the despondency and cowardice of our religious and political theorists. A wild courage, a Stoicism not of the schools, but of the blood, shines in every anecdote, and had given that book immense fame.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Religious, Book, School

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2000). “Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson: (A Modern Library E-Book)”, p.281, Modern Library

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• Freedom of a nation cannot be won by solitary acts of heroism though they may be of the true type, never by heroism so called.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  May, Type, Solitary

  Mahatma Gandhi (1947). “Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi”

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• A hero is someone who stands in the community and speaks their hopes and speaks their passion. That's almost an act of heroism nowadays because higher consciousness is so trivialized.

  Marianne Williamson

  Hero, Passion, Community

  Source: www.douglasgillies.com

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• What keeps India safe really is the heroism of millions of poor Indians who every day reject the allure of terrorism. What keeps India safe is just the courage of poor Indians, not the actions of its government.

  Aravind Adiga

  Government, India, Safe

  "MoJo Interview: Aravind Adiga". Interview with Sonja Sharp, www.motherjones.com. June 19, 2009.

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• Heroes take journeys, confront dragons, and discover the treasure of their true selves.

  Carol Lynn Pearson

  Sports, Veterans Day, Travel

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• No heroine can create a hero through love of one, but she can give birth to one

  Jean Paul

  Love, Hero, Giving

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• The past is only so heroic as we see it. It is the canvas on which our idea of heroism is painted, and so, in one sense, the dim prospectus of our future field.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Future, Past, Ideas

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.655, Simon and Schuster

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• Everyone should be taught the nobility of labor, the heroism and splendor of honest effort. As long as it is considered disgraceful to labor, or aristocratic not to labor, the world will be filled with idleness and crime, and with every possible moral deformity.

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Work, Long, Effort

  Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.2807, Library of Alexandria

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• What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in.

  David Lloyd George

  Country, Hero, Firefighter

  Speech at Wolverhampton, 23 Nov. 1918, in The Times 25 Nov. 1918

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