Courage Is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave (The Stoic Virtues Series)

by Ryan Holiday

Aristotle described virtue as a kind of craft, something to pursue just as one pursues the mastery of any profession or skill. “We become builders by building and we become harpists by playing the harp,” he writes. “Similarly, then, we become just by doing just actions, temperate by doing temperate actions, brave by doing brave actions.”

There is no deed in this life so impossible that you cannot do it. Your whole life should be lived as a heroic deed.

“Must one point out,” the writer and Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “that from ancient times a decline in courage has been considered the first symptom of the end?” Conversely, the greatest moments in human history all share one thing—whether it’s landing on the moon or civil rights, the final stand at Thermopylae or the art of the Renaissance: The bravery of ordinary men and women. People who did what needed to be done. People who said, “If not me, then who?”

There is nothing worth doing that is not scary. There is no one who has achieved greatness without wrestling with their own doubts, anxieties, limitations, and demons.

“Be scared. You can’t help that,” William Faulkner put it. “But don’t be afraid.”

“There are always more of them before they are counted.” The obstacles, the enemies, the critics—they are not as numerous as you think. It’s an illusion they want you to believe.

Don’t worry about whether things will be hard. Because they will be. Instead, focus on the fact that these things will help you. This is why you needn’t fear them.

If it were easy, everyone would do it. If everyone did it, how valuable would it be?

Waste not a second questioning another man’s courage. Put that scrutiny solely on your own.

There is no change, no attempt, no reach that does not look strange to someone. There’s almost no accomplishment that is possible without calling some attention on yourself. To gamble on yourself is to risk failure. To do it in public is to risk humiliation. Anyone who tries to leave their comfort zone has to know that. Yet we’d almost rather die than be uncomfortable.

“If not me, then who? If not now, then when?”

Are other people naturally braver than you? Or are they just better prepared?

Start small . . . on something big. Eliminate one problem. Move things one iota. Write one sentence. Send one letter. Make a spark. We can figure out what’s next after that.

You will not always be successful, but then again, it’s not all about you anyway. Someone can pick up where you left off. All you have to do is get things started. All you have to do is handle your part of the relay to the best of your ability. Do your best, do what you can, do it right now. That’s it.

We need people to challenge the status quo. We need artists who probe personal issues . . . and make public critiques. We need politicians who insist on leading from a place of honesty, and they themselves need expert advisers who do not hesitate to tell them unpleasant facts. We need a population that refuses to tolerate propaganda, rationalizations, or cover-ups. People in every station who are willing to stand up and say, “This is not right. I won’t be a part of it.” We need you to say that.

There is a great line, in the screenplay written by Cameron Crowe and Matt Damon for the movie We Bought a Zoo, based on the true story of a British writer who did exactly that. “You know,” Matt Damon’s character says to his young son, “sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”

Do you know what happens when we avoid the hard things? When we tell ourselves it doesn’t matter? When someone fails to do their job in the moment, or kicks a tough decision upstairs or down the road? It forces someone else to do it later, at even greater cost. The history of appeasement and procrastination show us: The bill comes due eventually, with interest attached.

You have to realize that you are not average. You never have been. You are one of one. You have always had what it took to defy the odds.

The cause makes all.

You don’t think that you’ll be loved and appreciated for all you do, do you?

“Every prophet has to come from civilization,” Churchill would explain, “but every prophet has to go into the wilderness. He must have a strong impression of a complex society . . . and he must serve periods of isolation and meditation. This is the process by which psychic dynamite is made.”

How long are you willing to be misunderstood? How long can you stand alone?

As Jackie Robinson said, a life is meaningless except for its impact on other lives.

“Happy is the man who can make others better,” Seneca writes, “not merely when he is in their company, but even when he is in their thoughts.”

Try living with moderation. Try being honest. Try pursuing knowledge. Try doing any of these things in a world that has forsaken wisdom and self-discipline and justice and you’ll see.