Chapter 6: A Parkinson’s Reading Companion on Courage

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” Mary Anne Radmacher

“We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.” Carl Sagan

Précis: “Thought-filled Responses” is a part of my undergraduate course, “Biology of Blood Diseases”; students submitted quotes on (five or more) hope, courage, journey, persistence, positivity, strength, adversity, mindfulness, and life (for further details click here). This current post is Chapter 6 including all of their quotes about ‘courage’ [click here to read Chapter 1 (hope); click here to read Chapter 2 (life); click here to read Chapter 3 (strength); click here to read Chapter 4 (adversity); click here to read Chapter 5 (positivity)].

Courage in the presence of Parkinson’s:   Living with Parkinson’s takes courage because your enemy is within you, and you always feel its presence. Thus, your hourly-daily-effort to live-fully is a measure of your courage.  Your courage is shown by your effort to keep working,  by your attempt to exercise, and by doing all the things you loved to do before the diagnosis (these are but a few of the many courageous acts you do everyday); this is all very consistent with the words of Brené Brown “Courage is to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.”  May these quotes about courage offer you encouragement to continue to confront this unforgiving disorder named Parkinson’s.

Courage:  I am pleased to present Chapter 6 about courage with my co-authors: Angle, Hannah; Arthur, Kallie; Artov, Michael; Bagley, Kendall; Batista, Kayla; Blaylock, Allison; Byrd, Emory; Cabell, Grant; Catalano, Michael; Clark, Kendall; Cossaart, Kristen; Culpepper, Houston; Das, Snigdha; Davis, Eric; Defazio, Stephanie; Doudnikoff, Alex; Dua, Shawn; Evans, Jessica; Evick, Andrew; Farooque, Tazeen; Ford, Kelsey; German, Zachary; Gouveia, Katie; Hall, Nikita; Isler, Victoria; Kirkley, Joel; Koutleva, Elitza; Laudun, Katie; Le, Kevin; Little, Sarah; Mackey, Josselyn; Macon, Briana; Maddox, Kaity; Marquino, Grace; Mattox, Daniel; Mcknight, Kyle; Mcmanus, Brenna; Mcshane, Sarah; Monkiewicz, Caroline; Nguyen, Michelle; Nguyen, Teresa; Olinger, Emily; Patel, Darshan; Patel, Dilesh; Patel, Jenny; Perez, Abby; Peters, Daniel; Quirin, Julia; Rawlins, Shelby; Raynor, Nathan; Renn, Matt; Scott, Alicia; Sherry, Alex; Shin, Christine; Stanton, Kate; Story, Charlotte; Swango, Summer; Szyperski, Caroline; Windley, Taylor; Wooley, Caleb; Xu, Alice; Yang, Michelle.

“The sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers strength and courage as the day gets on” Charles Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop

”Great things never came from comfort zones.” Anonymous

”I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth. Then I ask myself the same question.” Harun Yahya

“Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.”  John Wooden

“Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.” Winston Churchill

“With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.” Mark Twain

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” Lao Tzu

“No one has ever had the opportunity to be brave without first being afraid.”  Unknown

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.  It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage.” Hero’s Shade

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” William Faulkner

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you cannot practice any other virtue consistently” Maya Angelou

“Courage, dear heart.” C.S. Lewis

“Therefore, do no worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34

“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” Galileo

“At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate.” Grey’s Anatomy

“Today if you become frightened, instead become inspired.” Grey’s Anatomy

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” William Faulkner

“I’ve reached the point in my life where my brain switched from ‘you probably shouldn’t do that’ to ‘what the hell, let’s see what happens’.”

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go”  T.S. Eliot

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“The greatest battle is not physical but psychological. The demons telling us to give up when we push ourselves to the limit can never be silenced for good. They must always be answered by the quiet, the steady dignity that simply refuses to give in. Courage. We all suffer. Keep going.” Graeme Fife

 “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Winston Churchill

“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything” Vincent Van Gogh

“Don’t ever let somebody tell you you can’t do something, not even me. Alright? You dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want something, go get it. Period.” Chris Gardner from The Pursuit of Happyness

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” Maya Angelou

“It’s better to cross the line and suffer the consequences than to just stare at the line for the rest of your life.”

“Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.” Dalai Lama

“Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear; the brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all.”  Meg Cabot

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Andre Gide

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” Maya Angelou

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Nelson Mandela

“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”  Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

“You go on by doing the best you can. You go on by being generous. You go on by being true. you go on by offering comfort to others who can’t go on. You go on by allowing the unbearable days to pass and by allowing the pleasure in other days. You go on by finding a channel for your love and another for your rage.”  Cheryl Strayed

Cover photo credit: http://www.judithsfreshlook.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/untitled-4213.jpg