#sm

Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. ↗

— Robert F. Kennedy

#influence #justice #kindness #make-a-difference #oppression

The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently. ↗

— Pema Chödrön

#mindfulness #pain #self-assessment #self-awareness #truth

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty. ↗

— Thomas Jefferson

#despotism #liberty #men #prefer #sea

I always say, if you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips. ↗

— Robert Jordan

#death #smile #courage

...idea at play here is that of “morality.” When young women are taught about morality, there’s not often talk of compassion, kindness, courage, or integrity. There is, however, a lot of talk about hymens ↗

— Jessica Valenti

#virginity #courage

Young men go to war. Sometimes because they have to, sometimes because they want to. Always, they feel they are supposed to. This comes from the sad, layered stories of life, which over the centuries have seen courage confused with picking up arms, and cowardice confused with laying them down. ↗

— Mitch Albom

#patriotism #war #courage

Become major, Paul. Live like a hero. That's what the classics teach us. Be a main character. Otherwise what is life for? ↗

— J.M. Coetzee

#heroism #live-life #courage

If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good ↗

— Ezra Pound

#courage #criticism #intellectuals #opinion #taboos

What is to be gained if we are so intent in reaching out to the unchurched that we then unchurch the reached? ↗

— David F. Wells

#church #post-modernism #courage

Being an idealist is not being a simpleton; without idealists there would be no optimism and without optimism there would be no courage to achieve advances that so-called realists would have you believe could never come to fruition. ↗

— Alisa Steinberg

#optimism #realists #courage