Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T06:31:35.217Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

On Courage

Edited by
Get access

Summary

As our conduct and happiness in life depend materially upon the principles we imbibe and the habits we acquire in our youth; we should be careful while we are young and conscious of it, to confirm ourselves in those that are not meretricious, and such as will not forsake us when the decripitude and satiety of old age, shall have deprived us of the inclination or the power to enjoy with our early zest, the bustling scenes of the world and the morning pleasures of our existence.

There are principles which we imbibe and habits which we acquire, that although they may not appear to be absolutely, or essentially necessary to us in the decline of life, yet are so, when we reflect, that the peace of our latter days, is influenced much by the line of conduct which we have adopted; and that, in the evening, when the winds have subsided, and the heavens are serene, the safety of the vessel depends upon the manner in which she has weathered the storm.

There is one principle of quality of the mind, which in its various modifications is peculiarly necessary to a young man who is endeavouring to form or give a stability to his character; it is that which imparts to him, a proper reliance on himself, decision in judgment and firmness in action;—it is Courage.

When we recollect how great are the advantages gained by the possession of this quality; and how much we lose by the want of it; that without it we seldom venture to place ourselves in a situation in which we never were before, and that it is always the concomitant of great actions, but generally absent, in those that are mean; we shall acknowledge it is a subject which deserves our closest attention.—

Courage, or a proper Confidence, not only renders a man capable of placing himself in perilous situations, and conducting himself in them with propriety; but it enables a man to resist the fascinating temptations to indolence and vice, to repel the taunting shafts of ridicule, and to refuse to be a partner in those actions, which he feels are contrary to the dictates of his conscience, and which he would blush at in performing.

Type
Chapter
Information
Michael Faraday’s Mental Exercises
An Artisan Essay-Circle in Regency London
, pp. 93 - 98
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×