"The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity."

Courage

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Courage as articulated by Rollo May. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Courage provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Rollo May

Rollo Reece May was an American existential psychologist and author of the influential book Love and Will (1969). He is often associated with humanistic psychology and existentialist philosophy, and alongside Viktor Frankl, was a major proponent of existential psychotherapy. The philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich was a close friend who had a significant influence on his work.

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More by Rollo May

"Human freedom involves our capacity to pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight."

— Rollo May
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"Depression is the inability to construct a future."

— Rollo May
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"The relationship between commitment and doubt is by no means an antagonistic one. Commitment is healthiest when it's not without doubt but in spite of doubt."

— Rollo May
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"Courage is not the absence of despair it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair."

— Rollo May
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More about Courage

"An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery."

— Joseph Pulitzer
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"Clear thinking requires courage even more than intellect. In this truth lies the bedrock of all virtue — an essential principle for the reflective life."

— Martin Luther King Jr.
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"As the war on terror continues, Americans must honor the brave men and women who gave their lives for the protection of this nation and the hope of peace."

— Dan Lipinski
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"How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them."

— Benjamin Franklin
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