Cowardice Quotes

He had been driven hither by the impulse of that Remorse which dogged him everywhere, and whose own sister and closely linked companion was that Cowardice which invariably drew him back, with her tremulous gripe, just when the other impulse had hurried him to the verge of a disclosure.

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

The world is ruled by cowards and cravens, brave men have put them there.

~ Damon Meredith

We have made men proud of most vices, but not of cowardice. Whenever we have almost succeeded in doing so, God permits a war or an earthquake or some other calamity, and at once courage becomes so obviously lovely and important even in human eyes that all our work is undone, and there is still at least one vice of which they feel genuine shame. The danger of inducing cowardice in our patients, therefore, is lest we produce real self-knowledge and self-loathing, with consequent repentance and humility.

~ C.s. Lewis

It is a mere cowardice to seek safety in negations. No character becomes strong in that way. You will be thrown into the world some day and then every rational satisfaction your nature that you deny now will assault like a savage appetite.

~ George Eliot

In self-defense and in defense of the innocent, cowardice is the only sin.

~ Dean Koontz

To say you have no choice is to relieve yourself of responsibility.

~ Patrick Ness

And what does it amount to? said Satan, with his evil chuckle. Nothing at all. You gain nothing; you always come out where you went in. For a million years the race has gone on monotonously propagating itself and monotonously reperforming this dull nonsense--to what end? No wisdom can guess! Who gets a profit out of it? Nobody but a parcel of usurping little monarchs and nobilities who despise you; would feel defiled if you touched them; would shut the door in your face if you proposed to call; whom you slave for, fight for, die for, and are not ashamed of it, but proud; whose existence is a perpetual insult to you and you are afraid to resent it; who are mendicants supported by your alms, yet assume toward you the airs of benefactor toward beggar; who address you in the language of master to slave, and are answered in the language of slave to master; who are worshiped by you with your mouth, while in your heart--if you have one--you despise yourselves for it. The first man was a hypocrite and a coward, qualities which have not yet failed in his line; it is the foundation upon which all civilizations have been built.

~ Mark Twain

Life is too short to cower.

~ Claire Cross

Where choice is set between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence ... I prefer to use arms in defense of honor rather than remain the vile witness of dishonor...

~ Mahatma Gandhi

The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one?''Of course. Who said it?''I don't know.''He was probably a coward,' she said. He knew a great deal about cowards but nothing about the brave. The brave dies perhaps two thousand deaths if he's intelligent. He simply doesn't mention them.

~ Ernest Hemingway

Donald Trump is a liar because he is a coward. It is fear and cowardice that make him lie. it is his fragile ego that makes him lie.

~ Gizmo

Survival feels like cowardice.

~ Ann Aguirre

Part of the art of survival as a coward is not letting things get to the point where that cowardice is exposed.

~ Mark Lawrence

Running was not always the coward's route; it was a matter of survival. The fewer violent encounters one invited, the longer the life.

~ Marjorie M. Liu

Looking ahead to future applications of electronics, [de Forest] grew even gloomier. He believed that 'electron physiologists' would eventually be able to monitor and analyze 'thought or brain waves', allowing 'joy and grief to be measured in define, quantitative unit.' Ultimately, he concluded, 'a professor may be able to implant knowledge into the reluctant brains of his 22nd century pupils. What terrifying political possibilities may be lurking there! Let us be thankful that such things are only for posterity, not for us.

~ Nicholas Carr

Smartphones are tools which fools fiddle with when they are around people that they don’t have the courage, or, the intellect, to converse with.

~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

There now remain only a few books, which they call books of the lesser prophets; and as I have already shown that the greater are impostors, it would be cowardice to disturb the repose of the little ones. Let them sleep, then, in the arms of their nurses, the priests, and both be forgotten together.

~ Thomas Paine

Most civilisation is based on cowardice. It's so easy to civilize by teaching cowardice. You water down the standards which would lead to bravery. You restrain the will. You regulate the appetites. You fence in the horizons. You make a law for every movement. You deny the existence of chaos. You teach even the children to breathe slowly. You tame.

~ Frank Herbert

You and I both know, deep in your heart, you agree with me. And I will prove it with one hypothetical scenario: you are alone in a closet of your home. There`s a bright red button. You can push that button and presto all Negroes and Jews and all other colored people are instantly removed from the North American continent and returned to their native countries.You`d push it, wouldn`t you whitey?See? See? See? in the final analysis, you agree with me.But of course, you wouldn`t do antything to bring that scenario about, or any other scenario favorable to your Race.

~ Frazier Glenn Miller

Turning back against your responsibilityas a father is the most spineless thing you can do.

~ Bradley B. Dalina

I'd never understood the injunction not to regret anything, couldn't see how that wasn't cowardice...

~ China Miéville

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love, it is the prerogative of the brave.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.

~ Mickey Mantle

Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.

~ Thomas Fuller

Zaphod did not want to tangle with them and, deciding that just as discretion is the better part of valor, so was cowardice is the better part of discretion, he valiantly hid himself in a closet.

~ Douglas Adams

A man don't need to act tough if he is. Men that put on a show are spineless more often than not.

~ Eric Powell

You can't throw kindling on a fire and deny you kept it burning. And right now, cowardice is that kindling.

~ Ilana Waters

I never asked to be a king: it was pushed on me. So if you are going to say 'Son of St Louis: gird on the sword of your ancestors, and lead us to victory' you may spare your breath to cool your porridge; for I cannot do it. I am not built that way; and there is an end of it.

~ George Bernard Shaw

What a man dares to do, he should dare to confess- unless he is a coward.

~ Rafael Sabatini

Don't go confusing stupidity with guts.

~ Cath Crowley

Cowards never dare to love.

~ Wayne Gerard Trotman

Remember, the opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity.

~ Gayle Forman

Those who are brave, are the greatest cowards of all. For they fear failure.

~ James Miller

A coward,' he declared with dignity, when he'd stopped coughing and had got his breath back, 'dies a hundred times. A brave man dies but once. But Dame Fortune favours the brave and holds the coward in contempt.'— Dandelion

~ Andrzej Sapkowski

You always know the mark of a coward. A coward hides behind freedom. A brave person stands in front of freedom and defends it for others.

~ Henry Rollins

He who fights with guns and knives is a coward! For how easy is it to kill with the single pull of a trigger? And how does human flesh stand to a sharpened metal? Even an idiot can kill with a gun and a knife! A man needs no courage at all to stand behind these things that make him feel invincible and bigger than he ever will be! I don't say that no one should fight! Because battles must be fought, and wars will always be won! But let those who fight, fight with bare hands! The measure of true strength! With his hands and feet and nothing but! The country with truly strong men is able to have soldiers that need not a knife, that need no guns! And if you can soar even higher than that; fight with your pens! Let us all write! And see the substance of the man through his philosophies and through his beliefs! And let one philosophy outdo another! Let one belief outlast another! And let this be how we determine the outcome of a war!

~ C. Joybell C.

Fear breeds cowardice, and cowardice compels bravery.

~ Ogwo David Emenike

Sometimes it takes bravery in order to be a coward.

~ Lionel Suggs

He who has conquered his own coward spirit has conquered the whole outward world

~ Thomas Hughes

Do you see the irony at all, Tristan?’ I stare at him and shake my head. He seems determined not to speak again until I do. ‘What irony?’ I ask eventually, the words tumbling out in a hurried heap. ‘That I am to be shot as a coward while you get to live as one.

~ John Boyne