QuoteProject
I am not a courageous person by nature. I have simply discovered that, at certain key moments in this life, you must find courage in yourself, in order to move forward and live. It is like a muscle and it must be exercised, first a little, and then more and more. All the really exciting things possible during the course of a lifetime require a little more courage than we currently have. A deep breath and a leap.
John Patrick Shanley
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Courage is not inherent but can be developed and must be practiced to overcome life's challenges.

This quote emphasizes that courage is not an innate trait but rather a skill that can be cultivated. It highlights the necessity of finding courage within oneself at critical moments in life, likening it to a muscle that needs to be exercised. As individuals face more challenges, they will often need to summon greater courage to achieve exciting and fulfilling experiences in life. The phrase 'a deep breath and a leap' suggests that sometimes taking risks requires both calmness and boldness.

Themes

CourageLifeGrowthStrengthOvercoming

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about overcoming personal challenges.

More from John Patrick Shanley

Playwriting is the last great bastion of the individual writer. It's exciting precisely because it's where the money isn't. Money goes to safety, to consensus. It's not individualism.
John Patrick ShanleyRead
I think that certainty is a closed door, It's the end of the conversation. Doubt is an open door.
John Patrick ShanleyRead

Similar quotes

A bully is playing a game, one that he or she enjoys and needs. You're welcome to play this game if it makes you happy, but for most people, it will make you miserable.
Seth GodinRead
We are suffering. We have suffered. And we are not afraid to suffer in order to win our cause.
Cesar ChavezRead
Above all, try always to be able to feel deeply any injustice committed against any person in any part of the world. It is the most beautiful quality of a revolutionary.
Che GuevaraRead
The only thing I can't do is hear. I can drive, I have a life with four kids, I work on TV, I do movies, so the deafness question, is it that they want to know because, what? Not sure.
Marlee MatlinRead
One usually dies because one is alone, or because one has got into something over one's head. One often dies because one does not have the right alliances, because one is not given support. In Sicily the Mafia kills the servants of the State that the State has not been able to protect.
Giovanni FalconeRead
There was a man who sold a hyena skin while the beast still lived and who was killed in hunting it.
Winston ChurchillRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.