Letter to Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Thursday, 29 December 1881. p. 83; as cited in Dear Theo: the Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh (1995), edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone -
1880s, 1881
Context: I feel a certain calm. There is safety in the midst of danger. What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? It will be a hard pull for me; the tide rises high, almost to the lips and perhaps higher still, how can I know? But I shall fight my battle, and sell my life dearly, and try to win and get the best of it.
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
To which the answer is, I would have thought, boring, bordering on pointless.
Think Like an Artist (2015)
“All would have transformed us if we had the courage to be what we are.”
Tous nous serions transformés si nous avions le courage d'être ce que nous sommes.
Alexis (1929)
Republican Party Reptile (1987)
The Pathfinder (1998)
Context: It takes courage to be the author of your life. When you are struggling through one of the difficult parts of turning your dreams into reality, you may wonder why you always get stuck with having to put up with so much fear and uncertainty. Why, you wonder, couldn't I feel more courageous, like those other people do. You don't feel courageous because courage is not an emotion. There is no such thing as feeling "courageous". It is an imaginary emotion. Courage consists of doing what you said you would do even when you don't want to. In the face of danger you have a choice to be the delegate of either your commitments or your feelings. It's as simple and as difficult as that.
“…I noticed a woman whose face was a sea voyage I had not the courage to attempt.”
Source: Sexing the Cherry
“When you design it, think how you would feel if you had to fly it! Safety first!”
[Swami Aseshananda, Glimpses of a Great Soul; a Portrait of Swami Saradananda, 43]
