A Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Inaction is cowardice, but there can be no scholar without the heroic mind.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote Topics

Cowardice Heroic Inaction Mind Scholar Without

Quote Author

Ralph Waldo Emerson
American - Philosopher
May 25, 1803 - April 27, 1882

Without the heroic, man has no meaning; without the economic, he has no sense. Economic man is most likely to be economic woman - a good wife, pulling the coat tails of her heroic husband, checking his extravagances of speech and action with words of caution and good sense. But without the heroic coat tails to pull, life for both of them would be dull and savorless indeed.

Kenneth E. Boulding

Non-violence and cowardice are contradictory terms. Non-violence is the greatest virtue, cowardice the greatest vice. Non-violence springs from love, cowardice from hate. Non-violence always suffers, cowardice would always inflict suffering. Perfect non-violence is the highest bravery. Non-violent conduct is never demoralising; cowardice always is.

Mahatma Gandhi

(I)t is simply wrong to confuse cowardice with appeasement. Cowardice is a failing of character. Appeasement is a failure of policy. Stalin appeased Hitler when he signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Stalin was an evil character, to be sure. But cowardice really isn't the first word that comes to mind when thinking of Stalin ' that word is “sexy.” I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

Jonah Goldberg

The scholar may be sure that he writes the tougher truth for the calluses on his palms. They give firmness to the sentence. Indeed, the mind never makes a great and successful effort, without a corresponding energy of the body.

Henry David Thoreau

The ultimate act of cowardice is the fat-headed wrestling guy sitting behind the frail kid in math class, clipping him on the ear, saying: 'What are you going to do about that, faggot?' That is cowardice. When the bullets start flying past that jock's saucer-shaped ears, that's not cowardice. That's payback.

Doug Stanhope

Inaction saps the vigor of the mind.

Leonardo da Vinci

Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential. Without it, he is not yet man. Without it, thought can never ripen into truth.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

To act without knowledge is folly, to know without acting is cowardice.

Dominique Pire

Inaction without more is not tantamount to choice.

Benjamin Cardozo

The heroic minute.- It is the time fixed for getting up.- Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and.-.-.- up! The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body.

Josemaria Escriva

In the crowd, herd, or gang, it is a mass-mind that operates-which is to say, a mind without subtlety, a mind without compassion, a mind, finally, uncivilized.

Robert M. Lindner

The humblest painter is a true scholar; and the best of scholars the scholar of nature.

William Hazlitt

To be a head boy, you have to be very clever, you have to be a scholar, and I was never a scholar in any shape or form.

Hugh Laurie

A preacher should have the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of a rhinoceros. His problem is how to toughen his hide without hardening his heart.