Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Bravery
Zwar der Tapfere nennt sich Herr der Länder
Durch sein Eisen, durch sein Blut.
The brave man, indeed, calls himself lord of the land, through his iron, through his blood.
Arndt—Lehre an den Menschen. 5.
Hoch klingt das Lied vom braven Mann,
Wie Orgelton und Glockenklang;
Wer hohes Muths sich rühmen kann
Den lohnt nicht Gold, den lohnt Gesang.
Song of the brave, how thrills thy tone
As when the Organ’s music rolls;
No gold rewards, but song alone,
The deeds of great and noble souls.
Bürger—Lied von Braven Mann.
Brave men were living before Agamemnon.
Byron—Don Juan. Canto I. St. 5.
The truly brave,
When they behold the brave oppressed with odds,
Are touched with a desire to shield and save:—
A mixture of wild beasts and demi-gods
Are they—now furious as the sweeping wave,
Now moved with pity; even as sometimes nods
The rugged tree unto the summer wind,
Compassion breathes along the savage mind.
Byron—Don Juan. Canto VIII. St. 106.
Fortis vero, dolorem summum malum judicans; aut temperans, voluptatem summum bonum statuens, esse certe nullo modo potest.
No man can be brave who thinks pain the greatest evil; nor temperate, who considers pleasure the highest good.
Cicero—De Officiis. I. 2.
How sleep the brave, who sink to rest,
By all their country’s wishes blest!
Collins—Ode written in 1746. Authorship disputed. Found in the Oratorio, Alfred the Great, altered from Alfred, a Masque, presented Aug. 1, 1740. Written by Thompson and Mallet.
Les hommes valeureux le sont au premier coup.
Brave men are brave from the very first.
Corneille—Le Cid. II. 3.
Toll for the brave!
The brave that are no more.
Cowper—On the Loss of the Royal George.
The brave man seeks not popular applause,
Nor, overpower’d with arms, deserts his cause;
Unsham’d, though foil’d, he does the best he can,
Force is of brutes, but honor is of man.
Dryden—Palamon and Arcite. Bk. III. L. 2,015.
The god-like hero sate
On his imperial throne:
His valiant peers were placed around,
Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound
(So should desert in arms be crowned).
The lovely Thais, by his side,
Sate like a blooming Eastern bride
In flower of youth and beauty’s pride.
Happy, happy, happy pair!
None but the brave,
None but the brave,
None but the brave deserve the fair.
Dryden—Alexander’s Feast. St. 1.
Then rush’d to meet the insulting foe:
They took the spear, but left the shield.
Philip Freneau—To the Memory of the Brave Americans who fell at Eutaw Springs. (See also Scott—Marmion. Introd. to Canto III.)
The brave
Love mercy, and delight to save.
Gay—Fable. The Lion, Tiger and Traveller. L. 33.
Without a sign his sword the brave man draws,
And asks no omen but his country’s cause.
Homer—Iliad. Bk. XII. L. 283. Pope’s trans.
O friends, be men; so act that none may feel
Ashamed to meet the eyes of other men.
Think each one of his children and his wife,
His home, his parents, living yet or dead.
For them, the absent ones, I supplicate,
And bid you rally here, and scorn to fly.
Homer—Iliad. Bk. XV. L. 843. Bryant’s trans.
Ardentem frigidus Ætnam insiluit.
In cold blood he leapt into burning Etna.
Horace—Ars Poetica.
Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona
Multi; sed omnes illacrimabiles
Urguentur ignotique longa
Nocte, carent quia vate sacro.
Many brave men lived before Agamemnon; but, all unwept and unknown, are lost in the distant night, since they are without a divine poet (to chronicle their deeds).
Horace—Odes. Bk. IV, IX. 25.
True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one might be capable of doing before all the world.
La Rochefoucauld.—Maxims. 216.
There’s a brave fellow! There’s a man of pluck!
A man who’s not afraid to say his say,
Though a whole town’s against him.
Longfellow—Christus. Pt. III. John Endicott. Act II. Sc. 2.
How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old.
Macaulay—Lays of Ancient Rome. Horatius. 70.
Rebus in angustis facile est contemnere vitam;
Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest.
In adversity it is easy to despise life; he is truly brave who can endure a wretched life.
Martial—Epigrams. XI. 56. 15.
’Tis more brave
To live, than to die.
Owen Meredith (Lord Lytton)—Lucile. Pt. II. Canto VI. St. 11.
Audentem Forsque Venusque juvant.
Fortune and love favour the brave.
Ovid—Ars Amatoria. Bk. I. 608.
Omne solum forti patria est.
The brave find a home in every land.
Ovid—Fasti. I. 493.
Audentes deus ipse juvat.
God himself favors the brave.
Ovid—Metamorphoses. X. 586.
Who combats bravely is not therefore brave:
He dreads a death-bed like the meanest slave.
Pope—Moral Essays. Epistle I. L. 115.
Dem Muthigen hilft Gott.
God helps the brave.
Schiller—Wilhelm Tell. I. 2. 132.
Come one, come all! this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I.
Scott—Lady of the Lake. Canto V. St. 10.
He did look far
Into the service of the time, and was
Discipled of the bravest; he lasted long;
But on us both did haggish age steal on
And wore us out of act.
All’s Well That Ends Well. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 26.
What’s brave, what’s noble,
Let’s do it after the high Roman fashion,
And make death proud to take us.
Antony and Cleopatra. Act IV. Sc. 15. L. 86.
Fortes et strenuos etiam contra fortunam insistere, timidos et ignores ad desperationem formidine properare.
The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair through fear alone.
Tacitus—Annales. II. 46.
Fortes fortuna adjuvat.
Fortune favors the brave.
Terence—Phormio. I. 4. 26. Quoted as a proverb.
Bravery never goes out of fashion.
Thackeray—Four Georges. George Second.
Audentes fortuna juvat.
Fortune favours the daring.
Vergil—Æneid. X. 284 and 458. Same phrase or idea found in Cicero—De Finibus. III. 4. and Tusc. II. 4. Claudianus—Ad Probin. XLIII. 9. Ennius—Annales. V. 262. Livy—Bk. IV. 37; Bk. VII. 29; Bk. XXXIV. 37. Menander—In Stobæus Flor. VII. P. 206. Ed. 1709. Ovid—Metamorphoses. X. 11. 27. Pliny the Younger—Epistles. VI. 16. Tacitus—Annales. IV. 17.