A Quote by John F. Kennedy

Moral courage is more a rare commodity than bravery in a battle or great intelligence.

John F. Kennedy

Quote Topics

Battle Bravery Commodity Courage Great Intelligence Moral Moral Courage More Rare Than

Quote Author

John F. Kennedy
American - President
May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change.

Robert Kennedy

Physical bravery is an animal instinct; moral bravery is much higher and truer courage.

Wendell Phillips

So many of the models of courage we've had, ones that are still taught to boys and girls, are about going out to slay the dragon, to kill. It's a courage that's born out of fear, anger, and hate. But there's this other kind of courage. It's the courage to risk your life, not in war, not in battle, not out of fear ... but out of love and a sense of injustice that has to be challenged. It takes far more courage to challenge unjust authority without violence than it takes to kill all the monsters in all the stories told to children about the meaning of bravery.

Riane Eisler

I believe that soldiers will bear me out in saying that both come in time of battle. I take it that the moral courage comes in going into the battle, and the physical courage in staying in.

Woodrow Wilson

A CEO needs great intelligence and great courage. And I always found my courage was tested more.

Ben Horowitz

War and courage have done more great things than charity. Not your sympathy, but your bravery has saved the unfotunate.

Zoroaster

Danger is a very rare commodity in these times, monopolized by intelligence agencies and stuntmen.

William S. Burroughs

It is a tragedy that we live in a world where physical courage is so common, and moral courage is so rare.

Claude Monet

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

Mark Twain

It takes more courage to send men into battle than to fight the battle yourself.

Colin Powell

Saba used to say there was a difference between bravery and courage. Bravery was doing something dangerous without thinking. Courage was walking into danger, knowing full well the risks.

Gayle Forman

We need to look at [Osama bin Laden killing ] as a great victory for the American military and intelligence personnel and for the American people. A lot of bravery and courage displayed by those folks on behalf of all of us. It's also a good day for the administration. I think President [Barack] Obama and his national security team acted on the intelligence when it came in, and they deserve a lot of credit, too.

Sarah Palin

It seemed incredible to me, that physical courage should be so commonplace and revered, while moral courage . . . is so rare and despised.

Albert Schweitzer

Consequently, the truth of God lives in our souls more by the power of superior moral courage than by the light of an eminent intelligence. Indeed, spiritual intelligence itself depends on the fortitude and patience with which we sacrifice ourselves for the truth, as it is communicated to our lives concretely in the providential will of God

Thomas Merton

Successful or not, acts of physical courage always bring honor. It is the smaller forms of valor - standing up for principle at the risk of social disapproval, economic loss or injury to career - that require the greatest moral will power. Since there is usually little upside to winning and a significant and often lasting downside to losing, moral courage often requires as much character as physical bravery.