Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -how passionately I read more

Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -how passionately I hate them!

Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.

Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.

We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.

We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.

Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy -- common clay, if you like read more

Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy -- common clay, if you like -- eating, breeding, working, counting their pennies; people who just live; ordinary people; people you can't imagine dead. And then there are the others -- the noble ones, the heroes. The ones you can quite well imagine lying shot, pale and tragic; one minute triumphant with a guard of honor, and the next being marched away between two gendarmes.

Firemen are going to get killed. When they join the department they face that fact. When a man becomes a read more

Firemen are going to get killed. When they join the department they face that fact. When a man becomes a fireman his greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What he does after that is all in the line of work. They were not thinking of getting killed when they went where death lurked. They went there to put the fire out, and got killed. Firefighters do not regard themselves as heroes because they do what the business requires.

You lived too long, we have supped full with heroes, they waste their deaths on us.

You lived too long, we have supped full with heroes, they waste their deaths on us.

There are new words now that excuse everybody. Give me the good old days of heroes and villains. the people read more

There are new words now that excuse everybody. Give me the good old days of heroes and villains. the people you can bravo or hiss. There was a truth to them that all the slick credulity of today cannot touch.

The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when read more

The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be common, nor the common heroic.

The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.

The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.