What does this quote mean?

“Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things.”

James resists treating every possible intellectual mistake as catastrophic, because an excessive fear of error can itself prevent inquiry, experience and the possibility of gaining truth.

Source note: The Will to Believe, essay “The Will to Believe”; Project Gutenberg #26659. James is contrasting the risk of being mistaken with the cost of refusing every uncertain intellectual venture.

“The moral fear of shame had risen superior to the physical fear of harm.”

The dialogue describes competing fears rather than fearlessness: social shame can become strong enough to override the immediate impulse to escape physical danger.

Source note: What Is Man?, Old Man describing the imagined timid soldier in battle; the example analyzes how one learned pressure may overpower another fear.

“ignorance gives one a large range of probabilities.”

The narrator uses irony to show how not knowing enough can make almost anything seem plausible, widening speculation rather than understanding.

Source note: Daniel Deronda; narrator’s ironic observation while Gwendolen speculates about Grandcourt, represented from Project Gutenberg #7469.

“Few places in this world are more dangerous than home.”

Muir uses deliberate provocation to challenge exaggerated fear of wilderness by comparing mountain risk with dangers accepted without notice in ordinary life.

Source note: The Mountains of California; the surrounding paragraph discusses hazards in the mountains and fear of leaving home.

“The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief.”

Preserving some inward freedom after a loss denies the wrongdoer complete control over what the loss becomes.

Source note: Othello, Act 1, Scene 3; the Duke urges Brabantio not to compound an irreversible loss by continuing to feed it with fresh grief.

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs.”

Composure under collective panic is treated as a form of practical courage and judgment.

Source note: If—, opening line; the next line describes being blamed by those around you.