Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.
Interpretation
Courage involves recognizing that something is more significant than the fear you feel.
This quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt emphasizes that true courage is not about being fearless, but rather about prioritizing values, goals, or duties that hold greater importance than the fear one may experience. It suggests that facing fears is an integral part of making decisions and taking action in life, as long as one is grounded in purpose.
In practice
Using this quote in a motivational speech to inspire people facing their fears.
There has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda. This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, that Americans have considerable industrial power - but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight. ... Let them tell that to the Marines!
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns.
Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
A world turned into a stereotype, a society converted into a regiment, a life translated into a routine, make it difficult for either art or artists to survive. Crush individuality in society and you crush art as well. Nourish the conditions of a free life and you nourish the arts, too.
If we define risk as 'the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome,' inaction is the greatest risk of all.
They said we were soft, that we would not fight, that we could not win. We are not a warlike nation. We do not go to war for gain or for territory; we go to war for principles, and we produce young men like these. I think I told every one of them that I would rather have that medal, the Congressional Medal of Honor, than to be President of the United States.
My own cancer experience has taught me that the most comforting words from friends have often been both the simplest and the most honest.
But if the strength ain't real, I recall thinking the very last thing that day, before I finally passed out, then the weakness sure enough is. Weakness is true and real. I used to accuse the kid of faking his weakness. But faking proves the weakness is real. Or you wouldn't be so weak as to fake it. No, you can't ever fake being weak. You can only fake being strong. . .
I may have absolutely no control over what happens to us, but we can control how we respond. If we choose the right attitude, we can rise above whatever challenges we face.
When the men kill, it is up to us women to fight for the preservation of life.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.