“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
1990s, Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
Context: I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Dan Millman (1946) American self help writer
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but simply moving on with dignity despite that fear.”
Pat Riley (1945) American basketball player, coach, executive
James Neil Hollingworth (1933–1996) talent manager
Quoted in K. Patrick Malone, Inside a Haunted Mind (2008) p. 167
“Courage is not the absence of fear but the awareness that something else is more important.”
Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Foreword to Prisoners of our Thoughts : Viktor Frankl's Principles at Work (2004), by Alex Pattakos, p. x
This statement has also been attributed to James Neil Hollingsworth (AKA: Ambrose Redmoon) in an article entitled "No Peaceful Warriors!" for Gnosis Magazine #21, in 1991.
Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881) Swiss philosopher and poet
1 October 1849
Journal Intime (1882), Journal entries
Context: Heroism is the brilliant triumph of the soul over the flesh — that is to say, over fear: fear of poverty, of suffering, of calumny, of sickness, of isolation, and of death. There is no serious piety without heroism. Heroism is the dazzling and glorious concentration of courage.
“Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage.”
Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) Mormon leader
“And death?
I don’t fear death.
I dread the absence of it.”
Robert Charles Wilson (1953) author
Divided by Infinity (p. 195)
The Perseids and Other Stories (2000)