Courage in a desperate time....

[knightofalbion]

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate;
'To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods?'
-Thomas Babington Macaulay ('Lays of Ancient Rome')

[knightofalbion]

The sand of the desert is sodden red
Red with the wreck of a square that broke
The Gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river of death has brimmed his banks
And England's far and Honour a name,
But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks
"Play up! Play up! And play the game!"
- Sir Henry Newbolt (Vitai Lampada)

[knightofalbion]

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
- William Ernest Henley (Invictus)

[knightofalbion]

Lift up your hearts, all will come right.
Out of depths of sorrow and sacrifice will be born again the glory of mankind
- Prime Minister Winston Churchill (WW2)

[knightofalbion]

I beg you , take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster
- Catherine II of Russia

[7luminaries]

St Crispin's Day Speech

If we are marked to die, we are enough
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires;
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart. His passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse.
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say, “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say, “These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.”

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Harry the King, Bedford, and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered,
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

-- Henry V
William Shakespeare
1599

[knightofalbion]

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls
- Khalil Gibran

[knightofalbion]

Often God will put the most beautiful souls in the most broken bodies, so that they may shine more brightly...

[knightofalbion]

Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow
- Dan Rather