James Russell Lowell Quotes

Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen, but his country's cause.

As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.

A man must be willing to die for justice. Death is an inescapable reality and men die daily, but good deeds live forever.

I am not afraid of the pen, or the scaffold, or the sword. I will tell the truth wherever I please.

Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

I want it understood that all these men fought for principle, not for plunder, and that they were true-hearted, honorable soldiers, fighting for what they esteemed was a righteous cause.

Some say that the age of chivalry is past, that the spirit of romance is dead. The age of chivalry is never past, so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth.

No one is worthy of a good home here or in heaven that is not willing to be in peril for a good cause.

Never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

If it is decreed that I should go down because of this speech, then let me go down linked to the truth—let me die in the advocacy of what is just and right.

A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice.

He who defends his money is a martyr, and who defends his religion is a martyr, and he who defends his honor is a martyr.

When were the good and the brave ever in a majority?

I am certainly not a martyr kind of a person. I love my life. But if one has to, then there is nothing more nobler a cause that I can think of.

What I seek to accomplish is simply to serve with my feeble capacity truth and justice, at the risk of pleasing no one.

Few men could explain why they enlisted, and if they attempted they might only prove that they had done as a politician said the electorate does, the right thing from the wrong motive.

A hero cannot be a hero unless in a heroic world.

As the ancient commander addressed his soldiers before battle, so should the moralist speak to men in the struggle of the era.

No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause.

Morality binds people into groups. It gives us tribalism, it gives us genocide, war, and politics. But it also gives us heroism, altruism, and sainthood.

There aren't many people who really put their life on the line for human freedom.

The law of sacrifice is uniform throughout the world. To be effective it demands the sacrifice of the bravest and the most spotless.

The truth is that there is no terror untempered by some great moral idea.

They never fail who die in a great cause.

The smallest number, with God and truth on their side, are weightier than thousands.