“A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer.”
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Novalis 102
German poet and writer 1772–1801Related quotes
“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.”
“Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver 5 minutes longer.”
Variant: Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver five minutes longer.
“We can't buy one minute of time with cash; if we could, rich people would live longer.”
Source: Selected Stories
The Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean
Context: It is the way of the superior man to prefer the concealment of his virtue, while it daily becomes more illustrious, and it is the way of the mean man to seek notoriety, while he daily goes more and more to ruin. It is characteristic of the superior man, appearing insipid, yet never to produce satiety; while showing a simple negligence, yet to have his accomplishments recognized; while seemingly plain, yet to be discriminating. He knows how what is distant lies in what is near. He knows where the wind proceeds from. He knows how what is minute becomes manifested. Such a one, we may be sure, will enter into virtue.
Clary Fray, to Emma Carstairs, pg. 95
Variant: Heroes aren't always the ones who win. They're the ones who lose, sometimes. But they keep fighting, they keep coming back. They don't give up. That's what makes them heroes.
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire (2014)
“The superior artist is the one who knows how to be influenced.”
Influences of Matisse, exhibition catalog essay 1973, Aquavella Gallery NYC: On Henri Matisse
1970s
"The World of the Hero" (1976)