QuoteProject
The coward only threatens when he is safe.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

True courage is shown through actions, not just words, especially when one feels secure.

This quote by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe highlights the idea that true bravery is demonstrated through actions taken in the face of danger or uncertainty, rather than merely making threats from a position of safety. It suggests that many individuals only exhibit boldness when they feel protected, indicating a lack of genuine courage when confronted with real challenges.

Themes

CourageFearBraveryActionThreat

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech on overcoming fear and challenges.

More from Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
I am amazed to see how deliberately I have entangled myself step by step. To have seen my position so clearly, and yet to have acted so like a child!
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead

Similar quotes

You pay a certain penalty for going your own way. A lot of people think you're nuts, and you're not as popular with girls as you should be.
Ray BradburyRead
The hardest victory is the victory over self.
AristotleRead
I'm so proud that now you can exist as a gay man and be an Olympian, and it can be beneficial rather than negative. So it's amazing. And I just think I feel so liberated now that I've been out of the closet for a while, and so I'm free in that I just get to be myself, speak freely, act freely, and I think that I am competing confidently.
Gus KenworthyRead
A novel takes the courage of a marathon runner, and as long as you have to run, you might as well be a winning marathon runner. Serendipity and blind faith faith in yourself won't hurt a thing. All the bastards in the world will snicker and sneer because they haven't the talent to zip up their flies by themselves. To hell with them, particularly the critics. Stand in there, son, no matter how badly you are battered and hurt.
Leon UrisRead
Non-violent resistance implies the very opposite of weakness. Defiance combined with non-retaliatory acceptance of repression from one's opponents is active, not passive. It requires strength, and there is nothing automatic or intuitive about the resoluteness required for using non-violent methods in political struggle and the quest for Truth.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Coming out, all the way out, is offered more and more as the political solution to our oppression.
Jane RuleRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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