Girls are like apples…the best ones are at the top of the trees. The boys don’t want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they just get the rotten apples that are on the ground that aren’t as good, but easy. So the apples at the top think there is something wrong with them, when, in reality, they are amazing. They just have to wait for the right boy to come along, the one who’s brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree…
—Unknown
Brave men were living before Agamemnon.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
At the bottom of a good deal of the bravery that appears in the world there lurks a miserable cowardice. Men will face powder and steel because they cannot face public opinion.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
Ideas must work through the brains and the arms of good and brave men, or they are no better than dreams.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen, but his country’s cause.
—Homer (751–651 BCE) Ancient Greek Poet
The skilful employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous man, and the stupid man.
—Sun Tzu (fl. c.544–496 BCE) Chinese General, Military Theorist
Bravery never goes out of style.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
Fortune and love favor the brave.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
The brave love mercy, and delight to save.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one might be capable of doing before all the world.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Brave men are brave from the very first.
—Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist
The truly brave, When they behold the brave oppressed with odds, Are touched with a desire to shield and save:—A mixture of wild beasts and demi-gods Are they—now furious as the sweeping wave, Now moved with pity; even as sometimes nods The rugged tree unto the summer wind, Compassion breathes along the savage mind.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Toil for the brave! The brave that are no more.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
We believe faith and freedom must be our guiding stars, for they show us truth, they make us brave, give us hope, and leave us wiser than we were.
—Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American Head of State
Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.
—Omar Bradley (1893–1981) American Military Leader
The brave man, indeed, calls himself lord of the land, through his iron, through his blood.
—Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769–1860) German Poet, Patriot
Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.
—Mary Tyler Moore (b.1936) American Actor, TV Personality
We do not live an equal life, but one of contrasts and patchwork; now a little joy, then a sorrow, now a sin, then a generous or brave action.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
How well Horatius kept the bridge In the brave days of old.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59) English Historian, Essayist, Philanthropist
I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.
—Franklin P. Jones
Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
There’s a brave fellow! There’s a man of pluck! A man who’s not afraid to say his say, Though a whole town’s against him.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
The brave man seeks not popular applause, Nor, overpower’d with arms, deserts his cause; Unsham’d, though foil’d, he does the best he can, Force is of brutes, but honor is of man.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
We must do our duty and convince the world that we are just friends and brave enemies
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
God himself favors the brave.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet