Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes

Heroes represent the best of ourselves, respecting that we are human beings. A hero can be anyone from Gandhi to your classroom teacher, anyone who can show courage when faced with a problem. A hero is someone who is willing to help others in his or her best capacity.

Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom.

That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to be, when it suits him, a coward.

Heroism is endurance for one moment more.

Better to have beasts that let themselves be killed than men who run away.

We remember the heroes who ran into the burning buildings to rescue those trapped inside, and the dauntless passengers on Flight 93 who laid down their lives to save others, including almost certainly those of us in the U.S. Capitol.

I'd rather give my life than be afraid to give it.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

Heroes have a rough time because they stand up when they ought not to, they speak when they ought not to; they always have to go that extra mile.

You can't make accommodations in crucial situations and be heroic.

And as a child I was filled with passionate admiration for acts of civic courage I had seen performed by an elderly military doctor, who was a friend of my family.

Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another.

The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it.

Individual courage is the only interesting thing in life.

It is better to be the widow of a hero than the wife of a coward.

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

The Republic was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it.

Heroism is a matter of choice.

My wife Lorrie actually looked in the dictionary to see what the definition was of heroism because it had been used so much. She found at least one definition is someone who chooses to put themselves at risk to save another.

There would be no difficulty in securing the rights of the people and the liberties of Texas if men would march to their duty and not fly like recreants from danger. Texas must be defended and liberty maintained.

Every Medal of Valor recipient has confronted life-threatening danger. Each had their fight-or-flight moment. But each one stood their ground for our safety. We hold them up as examples to other first responders - and to all Americans.

We humans have a powerful instinct to flee from peril. It takes a special kind of courage, a deep sense of duty, and extraordinary character to overcome these impulses and - for the sake of others - to run toward the danger.

Valor' is a word we don't commonly hear. People can show courage and bravery confronting many different challenges in life. But 'valor' connotes willingly putting oneself in mortal danger to protect others.

In a sense, all of us have the capacity to be courageous.