Liu Xiaobo Quotes

I believe that courage is morally neutral. I can well imagine wicked people being brave and good people being timid or afraid. I don't consider it a moral virtue.

I'm a hero with coward's legs.

The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may going to prove one's self a fool.

And indeed there will be time to wonder, 'Do I dare?', and 'Do I dare?

Living in the modern age, death for virtue is the wage. So it seems in darker hours. Evil wins, kindness cowers. Ruled by violence and vice we all stand upon thin ice. Are we brave or are we mice, here upon such thin, thin ice? Dare we linger, dare we skate? Dare we laugh or celebrate, knowing we may strain the ice? Preserve the ice at any price?

Cowardice is the greatest sin.

The professional guts a book through - in full knowledge that what he is doing is not very good. Not to work is to exhibit a failure of nerve.

Conscience doth make cowards of us all.

At the bottom of not a little of the bravery that appears in the world, there lurks a miserable cowardice. Men will face powder and steel because they have not the courage to face public opinion.

Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.

I don't know why I'm saying I'm brave.

Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes.

I don't think any of us know how we would react until we were put in a situation where we have to do something bad or do something good. I think I'd like to believe I'd act like a decent human being, but I'm realistic to know I don't know.

It is always a dangerous symptom when men pray to know what is their duty.

Men of most renowned virtue have by transgressing most truly kept the law.

The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one's self a fool; the truest heroism is, to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom, to know when it ought to be resisted, and when to be obeyed.

… there are times of moral danger when the hardest virtuous resolution to form is flight, and when the most heroic bravery is flight.

I'm not an educated woman. What am I gonna do for the rest of my life? I'm an athlete... And now I have absolutely nothing.

Unless the character is suffering from tremendous self doubt or pangs of conscience, you have to get morally behind the character and their values.

Everybody is grappling with their own moral compass, and that needle, like any needle, can't just stick. It's always floating a little bit, and depending on where you're standing, it's hard to read.

I normally don't listen to my instincts because I'm so full of doubt.

As I heard out people who had done others wrong, I'd often wonder how a human allows his or her better judgement to override their conscience. When I share these feelings with my friends, they say, 'Everyone isn't like you.' But I think it's easy to assert your better feelings and not allow the darker side to dominate your personality.

Integrity in the Moment of Choice: Quality of life depends on what happens in the space between stimulus and response.

I've lost a lot. I've lost money, and my reputation has taken a hit for taking the high road to protect my dignity, to protect children, and for other good causes. But I don't think there's ever too steep a price for doing the right thing.