Quotes / Cowardly Lion

Anime and Manga

"I mustn't run away... I mustn't run away... I mustn't run away!"

— Shinji Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion

Fan Works

"Sure, you tend to freak out, and you yell a lot, and you get startled, and your first instinct is to run away. Big deal. You know what I've noticed since I met you and Evy? Every time she ran into danger, you were never far behind. Same goes for Alex, and even me. So I'm telling you, if for some reason we get separated, don't worry about me and just go."

— Rick to Jonathan, Fairy Tales and Hokum

"It's not true, I was scared. I feel like I'm always scared and that I just want to run away."
"And yet you're still here, still fighting. Bravery is not about being fearless, but about overcoming those fears and to move forward, and you demonstrate true courage every time you refuse to back down from your ideals."

— Recruitment, a RWBY fic

Her heart is in her throat, her guts are in free-fall, and her hands are shaking.
(She is a coward, after all.)
But there are people in that building, trapped and hurt, because of their association with her, and nothing more; and she remembers Carmilla's words, and all the blood on her hands, and the work, which she cannot do if those she helps are then hunted down by the Vees.
And she moves.
(She is a Saint, after all.)

—A Monster and a Saint

Film — Live-Action

"Superman isn't brave. He's smart, handsome, even decent. But he's not brave. No, listen to me. Superman is indestructible, and you can't be brave if you're indestructible. It's people like you and your mother. People who are different, and can be crushed and know it. Yet they keep on going out there every time."

— Grandpa, Angus

Cowardly Lion: All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I'll tear them apart. I may not come out alive, but I'm going in there. There's only one thing I want you fellows to do.
Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow: What's that?
Cowardly Lion: Talk me out of it!

— The Wizard of Oz

Maj. Archie Gates: The way this works is, you do the thing you're scared shitless of, and you get the courage after you do it, not before you do it.
Pvt. Conrad Vig: That's a dumbass way to work, it should be the other way around.
Maj. Archie Gates: I know. That's how it works.

— Three Kings

The brave are simply those with the clearest vision of what is before them - glory and danger alike - and, notwithstanding, go out to meet it.

— Duke Leopold Mountbatten (quoting Thucydides), Kate & Leopold

"It's alright to be scared. There's no courage without fear."

— Master Sergeant Farell, Edge of Tomorrow

Literature

They are sure to be esteemed bravest who, having the clearest sense of both the pains and pleasures of life, do not on that account shrink from danger.

— Thucydides

"Butters yelped and I looked up to see Cassius holding the knife, sweeping it clumsily at his opponent. Butters skittered away from the knife, eyes wide with terror.
But he skittered directly between Cassius and me.
And held his ground."

— Harry Dresden, Dead Beat

And I never passed a cry for help
Although, at times I shook with fear
And sometimes, God forgive
I've wept unmanly tears...

— The Final Inspection, (author unknown)

"Contrary to some opinions, it is better to be a dead hero than a live louse. Dying is messy and inconvenient but even a louse dies someday, no matter what he will do to stay alive - and he is forever having to explain his choice."

— Kip Russell, Have Space Suit – Will Travel

Bran Stark: Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?
Eddard Stark: That is the only time a man can be brave.

— A Song of Ice and Fire

Live-Action TV

"Like old Buffer used to say, 'Any gropo^note "ground-pounder", i.e. infantry who ain't scared is either dead, or stupid.'"

Large, Babylon 5, "GROPOS"

"Courage isn't just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway."

— The Third Doctor, Doctor Who, "Planet of the Daleks"

Rachel: Oh, thank you for being so nice and calm.
Joey: "Calm"?! I wasn't calm! I've never been more scared in all my life!
Rachel: But wait, you said everything was gonna be okay.
Joey: Well, what do I know?! I'm not a doctor!

— Friends, "The One With The Secret Closet"

Jimmy: How do you do it?
Gibbs: Hmm?
Jimmy: Block out fear.
Gibbs: (chuckles) You don't. It's what you do with it.

— NCIS, "About Face"

Sabrina: That was very brave of you, Gordy.
Gordy: Don't talk, run!

— Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Worf: I am no longer a warrior! I am no longer strong! I feel...
Troi: What? What do you feel?
Worf: I feel fear.
Troi: To admit that you're afraid... gives you strength.

— Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Night Terrors"

Mythology and Religion

"...and between them was Sita, a little frightened and very brave."

— The Ramayana, Ramesh Menon translation

Sports

"I am a coward, in fact. But I have enough courage to run away from the waiting room right to the match."

— Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, Japanese boxing champion

Theatre

"I am not afraid!
...Well I am, but I'll be brave!"

— Toad, A Year with Frog and Toad

Video Games

"I'll face anything! B-but won't look it in the eyes!"

— Lillia, the Bashful Bloom, League of Legends

"You are not used to courage, but you will find it within you all the same."

— Busenari, Six Ages: Ride Like The Wind

Roman General: There is no shame in fear! There is only shame in letting fear rule you! Try not to look scared, and you will find bravery in your heart!
English General: ...any man who faces battle without concern, is a moonstruck fool. To be brave is to go forward anyway, no matter how afeared! That is why I go forward, with so many other brave men.

— Total War

Webcomics

"I mean, first off, we're fighting monsters. Nobody who does that counts as a coward. Even if you chose not to, you'd just be... normal? Y'know, like most people."

— Rue to Zoe, Sleepless Domain

Web Videos

"Sure, [Krillin] can be a little... well, he's a total bitch. But when we really need him, he's always stepped up."

— Tenshinhan, Dragon Ball Z Abridged

Miscellaneous

"Fear has nothing to do with cowardice. A fellow is only yellow when he lets his fear make him quit."

— Jerome Cady

"At this point in the story, Esther's character comes to the fore. When she first learns of Haman's plot and the threat to the Jews, her reaction is one of helplessness. She cannot approach the king without being summoned, on pain of death, and the king has not summoned her in thirty days, implying that she has fallen out of favor (Esth 4:11). However, following Mordecai's insistent prodding, she resolves to do what she can to save her people, ending with the ringing declaration "After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish" (Esth 4:16). The pliant and obedient Esther has become a woman of action."

— Sidnie Crawford's analysis of the Book of Esther

"By nature of definition only the coward is capable of the highest heroism."

— David Gemmell, Legend

"The thing that's funny and relatable about Luigi isn't that he's a coward, it's that he's a coward with no sense of scale. He reacts to literally everything with exactly the same level of oh-gee-I-dunno apprehension, whether it's hearing a noise in a dark house at night, or coming face to face with a world-devouring horror. This is more or less the root of his self-esteem problems; he's the universe's second-greatest warrior and doesn't realise it because as far as he's concerned, being scared of a spider in the bathroom and being scared of Cthulhu are the same thing – he just totally lacks the necessary context to appreciate that managing to grit your teeth and deal with the second one is any sort of achievement. It's all spiders in the bathroom to him. He's equally terrified of everything, and that makes him invincible."

— David J. Prokopetz

"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

— John Wayne

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