That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to be, when it suits him, a coward.
Interpretation
True bravery is not just about outward appearances; it also involves the ability to confront one's fear of being perceived as cowardly.
This quote by Edgar Allan Poe suggests that genuine courage requires a person to acknowledge and confront their own fears, particularly the fear of appearing cowardly. It emphasizes that someone who avoids acknowledging their vulnerabilities or acting in a way that might be considered cowardly, when appropriate, cannot be seen as truly brave, as they are defined by the opinions and perceptions of others, rather than by their own moral fortitude.
In practice
During a motivational speech about overcoming fears.
But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him desolate!) And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed, Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
Most writers - poets in especial - prefer having it understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy - an ecstatic intuition - and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes.
...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.
I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me?
In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.
Freedom is a hard-bought thing and millions are in chains, but they strain toward the new day drawing near.
All that I am ... I owe to the Air Force.
I may fall here in the Senate chamber, but I will. never make any compromise with any such men.
Young men go to war. Sometimes because they have to, sometimes because they want to. Always, they feel they are supposed to. This comes from the sad, layered stories of life, which over the centuries have seen courage confused with picking up arms, and cowardice confused with laying them down.
Once every seven days, do something that frightens you. Every time we do something that we resist and is frightening, we actually grow in our power.
My own cancer experience has taught me that the most comforting words from friends have often been both the simplest and the most honest.
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