
Source: Natural Theology (1802), Ch. 27 : Conclusion.
Letter to Fanny Knight (1817-03-13) [Letters of Jane Austen -- Brabourne Edition]
Letters
Source: Natural Theology (1802), Ch. 27 : Conclusion.
Salwa Bugaighis after resigning here position at the Libya’s National Transitional Council, quoted in: Salwa Bugaighis http://www.vitalvoices.org/node/2680 at vitalvoices.org, 2014
“There is a strong feeling in favour of cowardly and prudential proverbs.”
Crabbed Age and Youth.
Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers (1881)
Context: There is a strong feeling in favour of cowardly and prudential proverbs. The sentiments of a man while he is full of ardour and hope are to be received, it is supposed, with some qualification. But when the same person has ignominiously failed and begins to eat up his words, he should be listened to like an oracle. Most of our pocket wisdom is conceived for the use of mediocre people, to discourage them from ambitious attempts, and generally console them in their mediocrity. And since mediocre people constitute the bulk of humanity, this is no doubt very properly so. But it does not follow that the one sort of proposition is any less true than the other, or that Icarus is not to be more praised, and perhaps more envied, than Mr. Samuel Budgett the Successful Merchant. The one is dead, to be sure, while the other is still in his counting-house counting out his money; and doubtless this is a consideration. But we have, on the other hand, some bold and magnanimous sayings common to high races and natures, which set forth the advantage of the losing side, and proclaim it better to be a dead lion than a living dog. It is difficult to fancy how the mediocrities reconcile such sayings with their proverbs. According to the latter, every lad who goes to sea is an egregious ass; never to forget your umbrella through a long life would seem a higher and wiser flight of achievement than to go smiling to the stake; and so long as you are a bit of a coward and inflexible in money matters, you fulfil the whole duty of man.
As quoted in "Cruz calls Trump "sniveling coward" and says 'leave Heidi the hell alone'" http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ted-cruz-bashes-sniveling-coward-donald-trump/ (24 March 2016), by Reena Flores, CBS News
2010s
University of Havana address (2005)
Context: Man is born egotistical, a result of the conditioning of nature. Nature fills us with instincts; it is education that fills us with virtues. Nature makes us do things instinctively; one of these is the instinct for survival which can lead to infamy, while on the other side, our conscience can lead us to great acts of heroism. It doesn’t matter what each one of us is like, how different we are from each other, but when we unite we become one.
It is amazing that in spite of the differences between human beings, they can become as one in a single instant or they can be millions, and they can be a million strong just through their ideas. Nobody followed the Revolution as a cult to anyone or because they felt personal sympathy with any one person. It is only by embracing certain values and ideas that an entire people can develop the same willingness to make sacrifices of any one of those who loyally and sincerely try to lead them toward their destiny.
Marginalia http://www.easylit.com/poe/comtext/prose/margin.shtml (November 1844)
On her motivation to write a renowned song, "I Am Woman"
Chicago Tribune interview (March 2013)