Not starred and spangled courts,Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride.
No: men, high-minded men,
With powers as far above dull brutes endued
In forest, brake, or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude—
Men who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain,
Prevent the long-aimed blow,
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain.
WILLIAM JONES.
God give us men. A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands:
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor—men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And scorn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty, and in private thinking.
ANON.
Open thy bosom, set thy wishes wide,
And let in manhood—let in happiness;
Admit the boundless theatre of thought
From nothing up to God … which makes a man!
YOUNG.
"The wisest man could ask no more of fate
Than to be simple, modest, manly, true."
In speech right gentle, yet so wise; princely of mien,
Yet softly mannered; modest, deferent,
And tender-hearted, though of fearless blood.
EDWIN ARNOLD.
CHAPTER II.
DARE.
The Spartans did not inquire how many the enemy are, but where they are.—AGIS II.
What's brave, what's noble, let's do it after the high Roman fashion, and make death proud to take us.—SHAKESPEARE.
Better, like Hector, in the field to die,
Than, like a perfumed Paris, turn and fly.
LONGFELLOW.
Let me die facing the enemy.—BAYARD.
Who conquers me, shall find a stubborn foe.—BYRON.
Courage in danger is half the battle.—PLAUTUS.
No great deed is done
By falterers who ask for certainty.
GEORGE ELIOT.
Fortune befriends the bold.—DRYDEN.
Tender handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains.
AARON HILL.
We make way for the man who boldly pushes past us.—BOVÉE.
Man should dare all things that he knows is right,
And fear to do nothing save what is wrong.
PHEBE CARY.
Soft-heartedness, in times like these,
Shows softness in the upper story.
LOWELL.
O friend, never strike sail to fear. Come into port grandly, or sail with God the seas.—EMERSON.
To stand with a smile upon your face against a stake from which you cannot get away—that, no doubt, is heroic. But the true glory is resignation to the inevitable. To stand unchained, with perfect liberty to go away, held only by the higher claims of duty, and let the fire creep up to the heart—this is heroism.—F. W. ROBERTSON.
"Steady, men! Every man must die where he stands!" said Colin Campbell to the Ninety-third Highlanders at Balaklava, as an overwhelming force of Russian cavalry came sweeping down. "Ay, ay, Sir Colin! we'll do that!" was the cordial response from men many of whom had to keep their word by thus obeying.
COMMODORE PERRY
"We have met the enemy and they are ours."
"He either fears his fate too much
Or his deserts too small,
That dares not put it to the touch,
To gain or lose it all."
"Bring back the colors," shouted a captain at the battle of the Alma, when an ensign maintained his ground in front, although the men were retreating. "No," cried the ensign, "bring up the men to the colors." "To dare, and again to dare, and without end to dare," was Danton's noble defiance to the enemies of France.
"The Commons of France have resolved to deliberate," said Mirabeau to De Breze, who brought an order from the king for them to disperse, June 23, 1789. "We have heard the intentions that have been attributed to the king; and you, sir, who cannot be recognized as his organ in the National Assembly—you, who have neither place, voice, nor right to speak—you are not the person to bring to us a message of his. Go, say to those who sent you that we are here by the power of the people, and that we will not be driven hence, save by the power of the bayonet."
When the assembled senate of Rome begged Regulus not to return to Carthage
