WIST Quotations

Voltaire -- Le Triumvirat [The Triumvirate], Act 4, sc. 7 (1763)

Dave — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 18:10:50 +0000

POMPEY: It is vain for the coward to fly; death follows close behind;
It is only by defying it that the brave escape.

[POMPEE: Le lâche fuit en vain; la mort vole à sa suite:
C’est en la défiant que le brave l’évite.]

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Le Triumvirat [The Triumvirate], Act 4, sc. 7 (1763)

Sometimes given "... for the coward to flee ..." See also Shakespeare (1599).

(Source (French))

Eliot, George -- Scenes of Clerical Life, “Janet’s Repentance,” ch. 6 (1857)

Dave — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 21:25:10 +0000

Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning; but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he’s sure of losing. That’s my way, sir; and there are many victories worse than a defeat.

George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist [pseud. of Mary Ann Evans]
Scenes of Clerical Life, “Janet’s Repentance,” ch. 6 (1857)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1963)

Dave — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 17:52:17 +0000

The fear of being laughed at makes cowards of us all.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1963)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 3 (1963)

Dave — Thu, 11 May 2023 15:00:47 +0000

Even cowards can endure hardship; only the brave can endure suspense.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 3 (1963)

Shakespeare, William -- Julius Caesar, Act 2, sc. 2, l. 34ff (2.2.34-39) (1599)

Dave — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 20:02:56 +0000

CAESAR: Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Julius Caesar, Act 2, sc. 2, l. 34ff (2.2.34-39) (1599)

The initial phrase has seemingly morphed in the retelling, though still being cited to Shakespeare: "A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once." This is the form most often seen, but is not Shakespeare.

In A Farewell to Arms (1929), Hemingway gives another paraphrase: "The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one," obliquely attributed to Shakespeare, This, too, sometimes gets modified to make it scan better, e.g., "A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave dies only once." He goes on to write, "The brave dies perhaps two thousand deaths if he’s intelligent. He simply doesn’t mention them."

Butler, Octavia -- Parable of the Talents, ch. 11, epigraph (1998)

Dave — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 23:45:33 +0000

Choose your leaders
     with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward
     is to be controlled
     by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool
     is to be led
     by the opportunists
     who control the fool.
To be led by a thief
     is to offer up
     your most precious treasures
     to be stolen.
To be led by a liar
     is to ask
     to be lied to.
To be led by a tyrant
     is to sell yourself
     and those you love
     into slavery.

Octavia Butler (1947–2006) American writer
Parable of the Talents, ch. 11, epigraph (1998)

The epigraph is cited to the in-fiction Earthseed: The Books of the Living.

Shakespeare, William -- Henry V, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 37ff (4.3.37-42) (1599)

Dave — Mon, 07 May 2018 16:08:48 +0000

HENRY: Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company,
That fears his fellowship to die with us.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry V, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 37ff (4.3.37-42) (1599)

King, Stephen -- Under the Dome (2009)

Dave — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 01:16:36 +0000

A cowardly leader is the most dangerous of men.

Stephen King (b. 1947) American author
Under the Dome (2009)

Sterne, Laurence -- Sermon 12, “Joseph’s History Considered”

Dave — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 16:52:43 +0000

The brave only know how to forgive; it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at. Cowards have done good and kind actions, cowards have even fought, nay some times, even conquered; but a coward never forgave. It is not in his nature; the power of doing it flows only from a strength and greatness of soul, conscious of its own force and security, and above the little temptations of resenting every fruitless attempt to interrupt its happiness.

Laurence Sterne (1713–1786) Anglo-Irish novelist, Anglican clergyman
Sermon 12, “Joseph’s History Considered”

Haliburton, Thomas Chandler -- Sam Slick’s Wise Saws and Modern Instances, Vol. 1 (1853)

Dave — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 14:57:29 +0000

A brave man is sometimes a desperado: a bully is always a coward.

Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796–1865) Canadian politician, judge, humorist
Sam Slick’s Wise Saws and Modern Instances, Vol. 1 (1853)

Gandhi, Mohandas -- In Harijan (7 Apr 1946)

Dave — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 12:17:24 +0000

Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.

Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, political ethicist [Mahatma Gandhi]
In Harijan (7 Apr 1946)

Shakespeare, William -- Richard III, Act 5, sc. 3, l. 327ff (5.3.327-329) (1592)

Dave — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:06:12 +0000

RICHARD: Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devised at first to keep the strong in awe:
Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Richard III, Act 5, sc. 3, l. 327ff (5.3.327-329) (1592)

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1878-04), “Æs Triplex,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Dave — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:50:22 +0000

We do not go to cowards for tender dealing; there is nothing so cruel as panic; the man who has least fear for his own carcase, has most time to consider others.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1878-04), “Æs Triplex,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Collected in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, ch. 5 (1881).

Homer -- The Iliad [Ἰλιάς], Book 13, l. 235 (13.235) (c. 750 BC) [tr. Butler (1898)]

Dave — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:50:06 +0000

Even cowards gain courage from companionship.

Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Iliad [Ἰλιάς], Book 13, l. 235 (13.235) (c. 750 BC) [tr. Butler (1898)]

Poseidon, appearing as Thoas, talking with Idomeneus. Other translations:

"We find, / That virtue co-augmented thrives in men of little mind." [tr. Chapman (1611), ll. 218-19]
"Not vain the weakest, if their force unite." [tr. Pope (1715-20)]
"Union much / Emboldens even the weakest." [tr. Cowper (1791), ll. 292-93]
"For useful is the valour of men, even the very pusillanimous, if combined." [tr. Buckley (1860)]
"E’en meaner men, united, courage gain." [tr. Derby (1864)]
"Ay, and very cowards get courage from company." [tr. Leaf/Lang/Myers (1891)]
"Prowess comes from fellowship even of right sorry folk." [tr. Murray (1924)]
"Even the poorest fighters turn into brave men when they stand side by side." [tr. Rieu (1950)]
"The worst cowards, banded together, have their power." [tr. Fagles (1990), l. 281]

Sophocles -- Phaedra, fragment 842

Dave — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:14:48 +0000

Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.

Sophocles (496–406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Phaedra, fragment 842

Also "Fortune never helps the fainthearted" [Fragments, l. 666]

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler -- Poem (1914), “Protest,” ll. 1-2, Poems of Problems

Dave — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 15:51:13 +0000

To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American author, poet, temperance advocate, spiritualist
Poem (1914), “Protest,” ll. 1-2, Poems of Problems

Often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln, after Douglas MacArthur did so in a 1950 speech.

See Confucius.