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Any human face is a claim on you, because you can't help but understand the singularity of it, the courage and loneliness of it.

— Marilynne Robinson Gilead (2004)

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Courage

More quotes by Marilynne Robinson

A man can know his father, or his son, and there might still be nothing between them but loyalty and love and mutual incomprehension.

Gilead (2004)

I love loneliness. I consider my history with loneliness to be among my great blessings…I hasten to add that it is definitely not for everyone. It should be approached with caution.

It is worth living long enough to outlast whatever sense of grievance you may acquire. Another reason why you must be careful of your health.

Gilead (2004)

I was trying to remember what birds did before there were telephone wires. It would have been much harder for them to roost in the sunlight, which is a thing they clearly enjoy doing.

Gilead (2004)

Experience had taught them that truth had sharp edges and hard corners, and could be seriously at odds with kindness.

Home (2008)

All Marilynne Robinson quotes →

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

William Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1599)

All doubt is cowardice — all trust is brave.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Courage is never born with a person; time and circumstances inject it into a person and bring it forth from within.

Sanu Sharma

Christianity offers reasons for not fearing death or the universe, and in so doing it fails to teach adequately the virtue of courage.

Bertrand Russell Education and the Social Order (1932)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Marilynne Robinson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.