Courage Is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave (The Stoic Virtues Series)

False impressions that feel real.

The opposite of courage is not, as some argue, being afraid. It’s apathy. It’s disenchantment. It’s despair. It’s throwing up your hands and saying, “What’s the point anyway?”

We need also to cultivate the courage to think about all the things that could happen, the things that are unpleasant to think about, the unusual, the unexpected, the unlikely. It’s not just a matter of reducing our anxiety about exaggerated uncertainties, it’s also about finding certainty in the unknowns—the risk factors, what goes bump in the nig

“Plenty and peace breed cowards,” Shakespeare said. “Hardness ever of hardiness is mother.”

This is how it goes, whether you’re a billionaire or an ordinary person, no matter how physically tough or brilliant you are. Fear determines what is or isn’t possible.

fear was a choice. Fear was the real enemy.

Doing the right thing almost always takes courage, just as discipline is impossible without the wisdom to know what is worth choosing.

They are not nearly as formidable as your mind makes you think.

Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion,” Nightingale wrote.

All growth is a leap in the dark. If you’re afraid of that, you’ll never do anything worthwhile.