“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.”
- Date
- 1894
- Attribution
- Source identified
- Voice / speaker
- Epigraph / fictional source voice · Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar
What does this quote mean?
Courage is defined as governing fear rather than never feeling it, which makes courage compatible with vulnerability.
Where does it come from?
Pudd’nhead Wilson, Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar; the courage aphorism appears in Twain’s chapter-epigraph sequence and is preserved as a Calendar maxim rather than character dialogue.
Who voices the line?
Epigraph / fictional source voice · Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar. Twain presents this wording as a chapter-epigraph Calendar maxim. The Calendar is a fictional framing device / source voice rather than uncomplicated autobiography by Twain.
The source author and the local speaker can be different, especially in fiction, drama, dialogue and poetry.
How should this attribution be read?
This wording is connected with the named source shown above. Translations and editions can vary, so consult the source note when exact wording matters.