Quotes About Courage

I had to decide how to use that pressure. I had to decide whether it was going to crush me or turn me into a diamond.

It gives me some kind of chance to survive the night. How are those better odds? If you come back with me, you're guaranteed to survive the night. No, Reacher said. If I come back with you, I'm guaranteed to die of shame.

He had learned a long time ago that some things were worth being afraid of. And some things were not. Things that he had done before and survived did not justify fear. To be afraid of a survivable thing was irrational.

You see four guys bunched on a corner waiting for you, you either run like hell in the opposite direction without hesitation, or you keep on walking without slowing down or speeding up or breaking stride...Truth is, it's smarter to run. The best fight is the one you don't have. But I have never claimed to be smart. Just obstinate, and occasionally bad-tempered. Some guys kick cats. I keep walking. - Jack Reacher

In order to win, you must be prepared to lose.

This was like July 13th, 1943, the pivotal day of the Battle of the Kursk. We were like Alexander Vasilevsky, the Soviet general. If we attacked now, this minute, we had to keep on and on attacking until the enemy was run off his feet and the war was won. If we bogged down or paused for breath even for a second, we would be overrun again.

Reacher said nothing. We can't fight thirty people. To which Reacher's natural response was: Why the hell not?

A brave woman is one who stands up when she hears gunshots. She doesn't dive under the desk.

Facts were to be faced, not fought.

A person either runs or he fights. It's a binary choice, and I'm a fighter.

We've already got gays in the military. We always have had. World War Two, the Western Allies had fourteen million men in uniform. Any kind of reasonable probability says at least a million of them were gay. And we won that war, as I recall, last time I checked with the history books. We won it big time.

Now you had one come back, Harley.

learned a long time ago that some things were worth being afraid of. And some things were not. Things that he had done before and survived did not justify fear. To be afraid of a survivable thing was irrational.

He said all that needs to happen for evil to prevail is that good men do nothing.

the only way to keep fear and panic at bay was to concentrate ruthlessly on the job at hand.

So like I said, what are you running from?" "From being like people, I guess.

and heaved himself up and out. He stood in the cold clear air for a second and then turned and pushed the door shut again behind him. Held still for a second longer. Then he stepped forward and leaned against the side of the hood up near the headlight.

So he died, because for a split-second he got brave. But not then. He died much later, after the split-second of bravery had faded into long hours of wretched gasping fear, and after the long hours of fear had exploded into long minutes of insane screaming panic.

again. He had crashed through the barrier. He had stopped worrying and started relaxing. He was up on that plateau where you just did whatever needed doing. I knew that place.

Reacher remembered a line from an old song: Set the controls for the heart of the sun.

don't know why he's there, but I promise you he's clean, and he's going to do what needs doing, or he's going to die trying.

He had learned a long time ago that some things were worth being afraid of. And some things were not. Things that he had done before and survived did not justify fear. To be afraid of a survivable thing was irrational. And

You could have been killed." Reacher nodded. "Many times," he said. "But all long ago. Not today. Not by these guys." "You're crazy." "Or competent.

Reacher said, "I wish I could send you ahead. Instead of me. You're a grown-up. I don't care what happens to you. Come if you want. Stay with us all the way. But stay with us on my left-hand side." "Why that?" "I'm right-handed. I like freedom of movement." "Understood. Let's go.