Precept & Practice – FEBRUARY 11 – Heroism

Men may be as original now as ever if they had but the courage, even the insight.  Heroic souls in old times had no more opportunities than we have;  but they used them.   There were daring deeds to be done then are there none now?   Sacrifices to be made are there none now?   Wrongs to be redressed are there none now?   Let any one set his heart in these days to do right, and nothing else:  and it will not be long ere his brow is stamped with all that goes to make up the heroic expression with noble indignation, noble self-restraint, great hopes, great sorrows, perhaps, even with the print of the martyrs’ crown of thorns.

Reverend C. Kingsley (Two Years Ago)

Self-trust is the essence of heroism.  It is the state of the soul at war, and its ultimate objects are the last defiance of falsehood and wrong, and the power to bear all that can be inflicted by evil agents, scornful of being scorned.   It persists;  it is of an undaunted boldness, and of a fortitude not to be wearied out.

R. W. Emerson

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW