# Your favorite Hope/courage/defiance quotes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 1, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179 "2010-02-01T00:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/41 "2010-02-02T06:42:36Z")
“We excel on ice,” - Washington Generals owner Red Klotz ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/42 "2010-02-03T03:07:35Z")
And now, for something completely different… What do you do here, John? You go for it, Pat. You have to. But Falco’s been shut down by this defense all afternoon. Yeah, but all it takes is one big play to get back in this ball game… ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/43 "2010-02-03T21:43:38Z")
Another Churchill quote: “Never in the course of human endeavour has so much been owed by so many to so few.” ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/44 "2010-02-05T07:18:14Z")
\*Come, my friends, ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’ We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. \* _Ulysses_, Alfred, Lord Tennyson * * * “My right is driven in, my center is giving way, the situation is excellent, I attack!” Marshal Foch, Battle of the Marne, 1914 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/45 "2010-02-05T08:07:16Z")
“More weight.” – [Giles Corey](http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/gilescoreypage.htm) “Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht Anders tun. Gott hilfe mir. Amen.” (“Here I stand. I can do nothing else. God help me. Amen.”) – [Martin Luther](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_of_Worms#Martin_Luther) (attributed) “Bearing ourselves humbly before God … we await undismayed the impending assault … be the ordeal sharp or long, or both, we shall seek no terms, we shall tolerate no parlay; we may show mercy – we shall ask for none.” – Winston Churchill “My flanks are something for the enemy to worry about, not me. Before he finds out where my flanks are, I’ll be cutting the bastard’s throat.” – General George S. Patton ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/46 "2010-02-05T11:23:14Z")
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro -Hunter S Thompson ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/47 "2010-02-05T16:03:57Z")
> [@](#): > > When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance. > > The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. > > The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” > > Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. > > This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, > > and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands." [1 Samuel 17:42-47.](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel+17&version=NASB) Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/48 "2010-02-05T17:15:11Z")
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. " - Teddy Roosevelt As an aside, the Churchill quotes give me shivers every time I read them. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/49 "2010-02-05T17:24:24Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > [1 Samuel 17:42-47.](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel+17&version=NASB) > > Regards, > Shodan Yeah, but David kinda stole the bit about feeding flesh to the birds and the beasts from Goliath! The story of David is my favorite biblical story though, so I’ll overlook that. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/50 "2010-02-05T17:43:52Z")
"Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad–why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. Valor pleases you, Crom… so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you! " Conan the Barbarian ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/51 "2010-02-05T20:44:03Z")
“A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” - Jack Dempsey “Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.” - Muhammad Ali Fall seven times, stand up eight. - Japanese proverb ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/52 "2010-02-05T21:43:26Z")
My absolute favorite line of defiance of all time, spoken when the Borg were still a scary threat and not when Janeway “wrote the book” on them > [@](#): > > Lily Sloane: Jean Luc! Blow up the damn ship!! > Picard: NO! NOOOOOOO!!! _smashes a display case with a rifle in anger_ > Picard: "They invade our space, and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far and no further! And I will make them pay for what they’ve done! > > -Picard on the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact, when he realised that the only way to destroy the borg was to self-destruct the Enterprise. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/53 "2010-02-05T21:53:35Z")
“A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts.” - Steve Prefontaine ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/54 "2010-02-07T14:10:12Z")
Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place. Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home. ---
**Author:** ![foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9a140/32.png) [@foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolscap)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/55 "2010-02-09T03:43:51Z")
AT Bastogne, during the battle of the bulge Germans had surrounded the town and asked for the American surrender Then Lieutenant Colonial Harry W.O. Kinnard suggested as the reply. “Nuts”😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/56 "2010-02-09T05:20:37Z")
Paraphrased, because it’s been a while since I’ve listened to these tunes: “Bleed me, beat me, kill me, take me now–before I change my mind.” – Jesus, in _Jesus Christ Superstar_. “For we couldn’t leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale She’d saved our lives so many times, living through the gale And the laughing, drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave They won’t be laughing in another day. And you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go Turn to, put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.” – Stan Rogers, “The Mary Ellen Carter.” It’s probably not well-known to most here, so I’ll explain. The song concerns a Nova Scotia fishing vessel that sank in a storm. The boat means a lot to the fishermen who worked on the vessel, and they want to raise the boat; they feel they owe it to the boat, which has seen them through some very difficult times. But the boat’s owners won’t let them and take the easy way out–they accept the insurance money, and leave the boat at the bottom of the sea. The fishermen decide to raise the boat anyway. Overall, the song is about defying those who tell you that you cannot do something, that you should at least make the effort regardless of what others say. We never learn from the lyrics if the fishermen were successful in raising the _Mary Ellen Carter_, but the point is that they try. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/57 "2010-02-09T06:56:36Z")
Stan Rogers. God, what a great musician he was! ---
**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/58 "2010-02-09T16:47:43Z")
They were afraid, never having learned what I taught myself: Defeat the fear of death and welcome the death of fear. –G. Gordon Liddy If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all. –David Livingstone I will not live an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live, so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom, and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit. –Dawna Markova I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me! –Dr. Seuss When you have come to the edge of all the light you have and it’s time to take a step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is believing that one of two things will happen to you: either there will be something solid for you to stand on or you will learn to fly. –Edward Teller To laugh is to risk appearing a fool, To weep is to risk appearing sentimental, To reach out to another is to risk involvement, To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self, To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss, To love is to risk not being loved in return, To hope is to risk despair, To try is to risk to failure. But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live. Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom. Only a person who risks is free. The pessimist complains about the wind; The optimist expects it to change; And the realist adjusts the sails. –William Arthur Ward, “To Risk” When you have reached a point at which you cannot see more, you must remember that there may be a point beyond this at which you can see everything. –Mehmet Karagoz Do it the hard way! Think ahead of your job. Then nothing in the world can keep the job ahead from reaching out for you. Do it better than it need be done. Next time doing it will be child’s play. Let no one or anything stand between you and the difficult task, let nothing deny you this rich chance to gain strength by adversity, confidence by mastery, success by deserving it. Do it better each time. Do it better than anyone else can do it. I know this sounds old-fashioned. It is, but it has built the world. –Harlow H. Curtice First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. –Mahatma Gandhi Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle. –Phillips Brooks The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. –Thomas Paine ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/59 "2010-02-10T06:20:27Z")
“The wise man in a storm prays to God not for safety from danger but for deliverance from fear.”–Ralph Waldo Emerson ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179/60 "2010-02-10T08:27:48Z")
“Never strike first. Strike second - and last.” - some sci-fi book whose title escapes me [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-hope-courage-defiance-quotes/527179.md?page=4)