The Cowards Quotes

stoodAloof from streets, encompass'd with a wood.Dryden.2. Applied to persons, it often insinuates caution and circumspection. Turn on the bloody hounds with heads of steel,And make the cowards stand aloof at bay.Shak.Henry VI. Going northwards, aloof, as long as they had any doubt of being pursued, at last when they were out of reach, they turned and crossed the ocean to Spain.Bacon. The king would not, by any means, enter the city, until he had aloof seen the cross set up upon the greater tower of Granada, whereby it became Christian ground.Bacon'sHen. VII. Two pots stood by a river, one of brass, the other of clay. The water carried them away; the earthen vessel kept aloof from t'other.L'Estrange'sFables. The strong may fight aloof; Ancaeus try'dHis force too ~ Samuel Johnson

The coward's weapon, poison. ~ John Fletcher

Describe for me, if you can, the nature of this wisdom.'

Anomander snorted impatiently. 'Wisdom is surrender.'

'To what?'

'Complexity.'

'To what end?'

'Swallow it down, spit it out in small measures, to make palatable what many may not otherwise comprehend.'

'An arrogant pose, First Son.'

'I do not claim it, Azathanai, just as I refuse for myself the notion of rule. And, in the name of worship, I am lost in doubt, if not outright disbelief.'

'And why is that?'

'Power does not confer wisdom, nor rightful authority, nor faith in either of the two. If it offers a caress, so too can it by force make one kneel. The former is by nature suspect, while the latter - well, it can at least be said that it does not disguise its truth.'

'You learn for liberty.'

'If I do, then I am the greater fool, because liberty is not in itself a virtue. It wins nothing but the false belief in one's own utterly unassailable independence. even the beasts will not plunge to that depth. No, if I yearn for anything, it is for responsibility. An end to the evasions, the lies spoken in the mind and the lies spoken to others, the endless game of deeds without blame, and all the causes of seeming justice behind which hide venal desires. I yearn for the coward's confession, and understand me well here, Caladan: we are all cowards. ~ Steven Erikson

It was the cowards who died many times before their death. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

There's three ways not to see what you don't want to,' she told me. 'One is the coward's way and too damned painful. The other is to close your eyes forever which is the same as the first, when it comes to it. The third is the hardest and the best: You have to make sure only the things you can afford to see come before you.' * ~ Jeff VanderMeer

Those who serve and those who rule
Lepers, kings and mindless fools
Empire leaders, tyrant's tools
All will fade with time
Hail the cowards, brave at heart
The ugly and the beautiful
Those who never felt their souls
All live transient lives ~ Kreator

Son, hiding the truth is just the coward's way to lie. ~ Jeri Smith-Ready

The fear had precedent. Toward the end of the Civil War, having witnessed the effectiveness of the Union's 'colored troops,' a flailing Confederacy began considering an attempt to recruit blacks into its army. But in the nineteenth century, the idea of the soldier was heavily entwined with the notion of masculinity and citizenship. How could an army constituted to defend slavery, with all of its assumptions about black inferiority, turn around and declare that blacks were worthy of being invited into Confederate ranks? As it happened, they could not. 'The day you make a soldier of them is the beginning of the end of our revolution,' observed Georgia politician Howell Cobb. 'And if slaves seem good soldiers, then our whole theory of slavery is wrong.' There could be no win for white supremacy here. If blacks proved to be the cowards that 'the whole theory of slavery' painted them as, the battle would be lost. But much worse, should they fight effectively--and prove themselves capable of 'good Negro government'--then the larger war could never be won. ~ Ta-Nehisi Coates

You've been downgraded from a thrill-kill to a simple bill-kill. (Nykyrian)
Bill-kill? (Kiara)
Kill you any way possible and send the bill in for payment. (Nykyrian)
I can't believe that someone's life can be bartered and sold so easily. That it's so common that there are even names for the different ways to take a person's life. For torturing them? My God, what is wrong with you people? (Kiara)
We're not the ones who are sick, mu Tara. With us –the predators– you know what we'll do and why we do it. What we're capable of. We make no bones about it and we wear the uniform so that you can see us coming. The ones who are sickening are the cowards who masquerade as sheep. The ones who lull you into trusting them and smile at your face while they plot your downfall behind your back for any number of psychotic reasons. The friends who turn on you out of jealousy or greed. Who try to ruin you for no reason at all. They are the ones who should be put down. And they're the ones who are truly sickening. (Nykyrian) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

Blame is the coward's retreat.
They think it frees them, but it confines them ...
Blame is also the coward's warden. ~ Steve Maraboli

A.Coward," he repeated, and I briefly considered picking up the vase in the center of the island and throwing it at him."Not making a choice is the coward's way out. You love both of them. I get that. But you don't feel the same kind of love for both of them, and the sooner you accept that the better. ~ Jennifer L. Armentrout

Order whatever punishment you like, from the coward's distance of a chain-lenght. You and Govart are two of a kind. ~ C.S. Pacat

Mr. President, not only are you disastrous for the land, you are the man who must be held responsible for all the sins of the cowards, the cowards who were fooled into electing you as president. ~ Nilantha Ilangamuwa

They avoided one another's faces, for fear of what they might see mirrored there. Each man thought: one of the others is bound to say something soon, some protest, and then I'll murmur agreement, not actually say anything, I'm not stupid as that, but definitely murmur very firmly, so that the others will be in no doubt that I thoroughly disapprove, because at a time like this it behooves all decent men to nearly stand up and be almost heard ...
No one said anything. The cowards, thought each man. ~ Terry Pratchett

Fortune helps the intrepid and abandons the cowards. I am the daughter of a man who did not know of fear. Whatever may come, I am resolved to follow that course until death. ~ Caterina Sforza

There are many places a spirit may rest
when life's long march has ended.
Every creature returns to its home
exactly as nature intended.
The cowards and traitors, the liars and cheats,
each in their turn is awarded,
someplace that they deserved to go,
as their actions in life accorded.
Those who proved untrue to their friends
lie thick in the dust of the earth,
trodden on forever by all
to show what treachery's worth.
In the mud of swamps, in rotting weeds,
they lie imprisoned by evil misdeeds.
But the warriors true, the brave of heart,
who valiantly upheld the right,
they are raised on high, to the velvet sky,
bringing light to the darkness of night.
They'll stand there as long as the sky will,
their honor in brightness will glow,
a lesson to see, for eternity,
of where the real warriors go!
So ere my eyelids close in sleep,
these are the words I will say,
May I have the courage and faithfulness
that my spirit should join them one day. ~ Brian Jacques

The weakest are those who stay put and call it sacrifice, call it not having a choice. Because, really, there was always a choice and she - one of the cowards, she realized - was making hers now. She turned back to the window, to the identical roofs. She closed her hands over the chunni and twisted it tight. "Please. Go away. ~ Sunjeev Sahota

And here's the shock
when you risk it, when you do the right thing, when you arrive at the borders of common sense and cross into unknown territory, leaving behind you all the familiar smells and lights, you do not experience great joy and huge energy.
You are unhappy. Things get worse.
It is a time of mourning. Loss. Fear. We bullet ourselves through with questions. And then we feel shot and wounded.
And then all the cowards come out and say, 'See, I told you so.'
In fact, they told you nothing. ~ Jeanette Winterson

Fate only picks on the cowards and quitters,
So give 'em both barrels - and aim for the eyes. ~ Grantland Rice

Nice guys do not finish last. Last place is for the cowards and those too full of fear to take action. ~ Robert Kiyosaki

Leave tomorrow for the cowards. Today you must be fearless. ~ Tracey Ward

The cowards think of what they can lose, the heroes of what they can win. ~ Jean-Michel Charlier

There's a good kind of crazy, Kaylee," he insisted softly, reaching out to wrap his warm hand around mine. "It's the kind that makes you think about things that make your head hurt, because not thinking about them is the coward's way out. The kind that makes you touch people who bruise your soul, just because they need to be touched. This is the kind of crazy that lets you stare out into the darkness and rage at eternity, while it stares back at you, ready to swallow you whole."
Tod leaned closer, staring into my eyes so intently I was sure he could see everything I was thinking, but too afraid to say. "I've seen you fight, Kaylee. I've seen you step into that darkness for someone else, then claw your way out, bruised, but still standing. You're that kind of crazy, and I live in that darkness. Together, we'd take crazy to a whole new level. ~ Rachel Vincent

Action separates the heroes from the cowards, the achievers from the complainers, the successful from the mere dreamers, the happy from the envious; it separates those who rise to the challenge of their goals from the haters who cower in the shadow of stagnancy. ~ Steve Maraboli

Love ya" is the coward's way of saying "I love you. ~ Donald Margulies

The coward's fear of death stems in large part from his incapacity to love anything but his own body. The inability to participate in others' lives stands in the way of his developing any inner resources sufficient to overcome the terror of death. - J. Glenn Gary, The Warriors ~ Sebastian Junger

Karma and Hell are the cowards revenge ~ Christopher Zzenn Loren

Oh, Gray, she said. Oh, gray, indeed. As in, oh Gray what the holy hell has come over you and what the devil do you intend to do about it?
He took the coward's way out. He looked away.
"I thought you were painting a portrait. Of me."
She turned her head, following his gaze to her easel. A vast seascape overflowed the small canvas. Towering thunderclouds and a violent, frothy sea. And slightly off center, a tiny ship cresting a massive wave.
"I am painting you."
"What, am I on the little boat, then?" It was a relief to joke.
The relief was short-lived.
"No," she said softly, turning back to look at him. "I'm on the little boat. You're the storm. And the ocean. You're…Gray, you're everything."
And that was when things went from "very bad" to "worse."
"I can't take credit for the composition. It's inspired by a painting I once saw, in a gallery on Queen Anne Street. By a Mr. Turner."
"Turner. Yes, I know his work. No relation, I suppose?"
"No." She looked back at the canvas. "When I saw it that day, so brash and wild…I could feel the tempest churning in my blood. I just knew then and there, that I had something inside me-a passion too bold, too grand to keep squeezed inside a drawing room. First I tried to deny it, and then I tried to run from it…and then I met you, and I saw you have it, too. Don't deny it, Gray. Don't run from it and leave me alone."
She sat up, still rubbing his cheek with her thumb. Grasping his oth ~ Tessa Dare

So when I say we had been the cowards, yes, that's what I meant, we as a society. And that's everybody, including myself. I had been screaming about the drug war and this war and other wars. I should have been more on terrorism, too. So should you, so should everybody. ~ Bill Maher

The brave endure their labors, the cowardly are worth the cowards nothing at all. ~ Euripides

In battle it is the cowards who run the most risk; bravery is a rampart of defense. ~ Sallust

Why sacrifice some for the benefit of others? It's generally the best and the bravest who choose to lay down their lives for the sake of those who hide in their holes. So why favor the sacrifice of the righteous in order to permit the less righteous to survive them? Don't you think that's a way of weakening the human species? What's going to be left of it in a few generations if it's always the best who are called upon to exit the scene so that the cowards, the counterfeits, the charlatans, and the pricks can continue to proliferate like rats? ~ Yasmina Khadra

A person's got to be scared all the time - of God, if there is one, and of looking like a fool if there isn't. ~ Josef Skvorecky

You, too, women, cast away all the cowards from your embraces; they will give you only cowards for children, and you who are the daughters of the land of beauty must bear children who are noble and brave. ~ Giuseppe Garibaldi

I've known cowards and I've known heroes," he says. "The heroes were always ruled by their hearts; the cowards by their brains. Don't forget that. Heroes don't calculate or calibrate. They do what is right. ~ Nickolas Butler

It is thus that mutual cowardice keeps us in peace. Were one half of mankind brave and one cowards, the brave would be always beating the cowards. Were all brave, they would lead a very uneasy life; all would be continually fighting; but being all cowards, we go on very well. ~ Samuel Johnson

Eyes mean a lot. Like a barometer. They tell you everything-they tell you who has a heart of stone, who would poke the toe of his boot in your ribs as soon as look at you-and who's afraid of you. The cowards – they're the ones whose ankles I like to snap at. If they're scared, I go for them. Serve them right..grrr..bow-wow…" Chapter 1 ~ Mikhail Bulgakov

God is the brave man's hope, and not the coward's excuse. ~ Plutarch

Blame is the cowards way out. ~ Elvin Hayes

Knowledge is the power, the cowards get devoured. ~ Big Boi

Men lie, who lack courage to tell truth
the cowards! ~ Joaquin Miller

Women are the cowards they are because they have been semi-slaves for so long. ~ Doris Lessing

The cowards never start and the weak die along the way. ~ Kit Carson

But focus always on your shame, and your shame will eat you. It will become you. That is the coward's way. A coward never has to learn. ~ Marjorie M. Liu

Shoot the brave officers, and the cowards will run away and take the men with them. ~ Stonewall Jackson

Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated. ~ George Bernard Shaw

The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us. ~ Phil Knight

To the cowards, change is a want; to the weak, change is a wish; but to the brave, change is a must. People who put change ahead of all things are those who make a difference! ~ Israelmore Ayivor

Cowards kill as often as heroes ~ Peter V. Brett

If our principles are right, why should we be cowards? ~ Lucretia Mott

Bullies are always cowards at heart and may be credited with a pretty safe instinct in scenting their prey. ~ Anna Julia Cooper

Conscience doth make cowards of us all. ~ William Shakespeare

Some people believe that if they keep their heads down and stick to their safe routine and trust that nothing bad will befall them, then it won't. They see things happening to others, but they think they're different; they're special; it could never happen to them. They believe that nothing can get better, but also that nothing can get worse. They're cowards, in one way, because they won't fight, but they're also brave, because they're willing to accept their lot in life. Glupava smelost, we called it. Foolish courage. ~ Samantha Shannon

All of us are cowards at some time in our lives... ~ Dean Koontz

To sin by silnce when they should protest makes cowards of men (and women)... ~ Abe Lincoln

Fatigue makes cowards of us all. ~ Shaunti Feldhahn

We are a nation of glorious cowards, ready to battle any evil but our own." Her ~ Chris Cleave

Cowards don't always hide. Sometimes, they're so gutless they need to stand out. ~ Steven Herrick

Cowards spend their lives alone. Either with people who can't hurt them, or with no one at all. ~ Alexander Maksik

Only fools and cowards scorned fear. Fear keeps you alive. ~ Victoria Schwab

To sin by silence, when we should protest, Makes cowards out of men. ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

It does not matter what others think of how I lived my life. It does not matter if we go down in Temuge's histories as tyrants or even cowards. All that matters is what we do now. We are our only judges, Kachiun. Remember that. Those who come after will have other trials, other battles to worry about. ~ Conn Iggulden

To cowards what advice shall I offer? - nothing whatsoever have I to say. ~ Swami Vivekananda

Cowardice is for cowards. Fear is for people with brains and eyes and functioning nerve endings. ~ Katherine Rundell

When great happiness unexpectedly swoops down on people, they suddenly turn into cowards. ~ Novala Takemoto

We are fed lies because believing them makes us weak, vulnerable, malleable. We depend on others for our food, health, sustenance. This cripples us. Creates cowards of our people. Slaves of our children. It's time for us to fight back. ~ Tahereh Mafi

This is a formidable enemy. To dismiss it as a bunch of 'cowards' perpetuating 'senseless acts of violence' is complacent nonsense. People willing to kill thousands of innocents while they kill themselves are not cowards. They are deadly vicious warriors and need to be treated as such. ~ Charles Krauthammer

These cowards have no morals. They have no shame about lying. ~ Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf

Plenty and peace breed cowards; hardness ever of hardiness is mother. ~ William Shakespeare

All enchantments die; only cowards die with them. ~ Charles Morgan

I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards. ~ Garth Marenghi

You've got to keep yourself in prime physical condition, because fatigue makes cowards of us all. ~ Vince Lombardi

Gloomy room
immersed in a scent
of modern cowards
filled with
shapeless creatures
sitting in silence
because they have
nothing to say

Fake plastic faces
with a grimace
of disappointment
painted on them

Are we stuck on hold
expecting our turn
in a waiting room
of so-called
lost generation? ~ Asper Blurry

Nigeria has had its history of violence. There are good men there, and there are evil ones, too. But violence is much closer to a man and his family there than in America. I grew up seeing that look you wear now. Wondering if something is worth your life. Some men make this decision very easily, and they are warriors. Others make it very slowly, and they are leaders. And still others run from such a choice, and they are cowards." Brian ~ Ryan Okerlund

All great men pay some price for their dreams, but cowards remain in debt to fear. ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

Cullen was a bully. Bullies are cowards. You plant your feet and stay calm, they don't know what to do. ~ Eric Plume

Only cowards torture women. ~ Patricia Briggs

Cowards have done good and kind actions, but a coward never pardoned. ~ Friedrich Schiller

These violators responded only as cowards could. They ran. ~ Cynthia D. Witherspoon