Cowards falter, but danger is often overcome by those who nobly dare.
—Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) British Monarch
The coward calls the brave man rash, the rash man calls him a coward.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
One of the chief misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowardly.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
The coward threatens when he is safe.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Fear has its use but cowardice has none.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
The cowards never started—and the weak died along the way.
—Unknown
How many feasible projects have miscarried through despondency, and been strangled in their birth by a cowardly imagination.
—Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) Anglican Church Historian, Clergyman
Cowards are cruel, but the brave love mercy and delight to save.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
There are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
It is better to be the widow of a hero than the wife of a coward.
—Dolores Ibarruri (1895–1989) Spanish Communist Leader
That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to be, when it suits him, a coward.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
Heroes are not known by the loftiness of their carriage; the greatest braggarts are generally the merest cowards.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
When the adulation of life is gone, the coward sneaks to his death, but the brave live on.
—George Sewell (1687–1726) English Physician, Poet
It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life.
—Irish Proverb
The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession, but carrying a banner.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
My valor is certainly going, it is sneaking off! I feel it oozing out as it were, at the palms of my hands!
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) Irish-born British Playwright, Poet, Elected Rep
Faint heart never won fair lady.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
Man gives every reason for his conduct save one, every excuse for his crimes save one, every plea for his safety save one; and that one is his cowardice.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
A coward gets scared and quits. A hero gets scared, but still goes on.
—Unknown
It is the coward who fawns upon those above him. It is the coward who is insolent whenever he dares be so.
—Junius Unidentified English Writer
Cowards die a thousand deaths. The valiant taste of death but once.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
For cowards the road of desertion should be left open; they will carry over to the enemy nothing, but their fears.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Cowards can never be moral.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
A coward is one who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Don’t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drive into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Covetousness like jealousy, when it has taken root, never leaves a person, but with their life. Cowardice is the dread of what will happen.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
When cowardice is made respectable, its followers are without number both from among the weak and the strong; it easily becomes a fashion.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author