Courage, it would seem,
is nothing less than the power
to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice,
while continuing to affirm inwardly
that life with all its sorrows is good;
that everything is meaningful
even if in a sense beyond our understanding;
and that there is always tomorrow.
-Dorothy Thompson

Whatever you do, you need courage.
Whatever course you decide upon,
there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.
There are always difficulties arising
that tempt you to believe your critics are right.
To map out a course of action and follow it to an end
requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs.
Peace has its victories,
but it takes brave men and women to win them.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is not the critic who counts,
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,
or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,
who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again,
who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,
and spends himself in a worthy cause,
who at best knows achievement
and who at the worst if he fails
at least fails while daring greatly
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls
who know neither victory nor defeat.
-Theodore Roosevelt