Spring, Season of Courage

The quieter side of a bold virtue

Spring is here! Continuing the seasonal series I started last year, in which we examine one cardinal virtue per season, today we will look at Stoic courage. (Here are previous posts on wisdom, temperance, and justice.) As usual, I will try to share a lesser-known angle on a well-known virtue. Courage seems to be quite an obvious virtue—dashing to the rescue, running into burning buildings, and all that—but there is another side of this virtue that may surprise you. There are quieter forms of courage that we all need every day. It’s all about knowing “how to distinguish between what is bad and what is not,” as Seneca puts its (Letters on Ethics, 85.28).

So today I’m sharing a short essay I wrote in 2022 for Modern Stoicism’s Paths to Flourishing conference, which I helped organize with my friend Kathryn Koromilas. Our theme was courage (you can still view the sessions on Modern Stoicism’s YouTube channel.) If you’d like to see more on this theme, you might want to check out some of the other videos from the conference.

The essay below is reprinted with some additions and modifications. As you launch into spring—the season of hope and renewal—I hope you’ll reconsider what courage means, or at least expand your definition. And perhaps you’ll find some way to welcome new forms of courage into your life.

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When we think of courage, we often think of instances of heroism and daring bravery. Stalwart soldiers repelling invaders from their homeland. Quick-thinking bystanders saving a child from drowning. Intrepid undercover agents working covertly to bring down dictatorial regimes.

These stunning acts of heroism certainly require courage, and there will always be a close connection between courage and physical bravery. But courage isn’t just about derring-do. Courage is also present—quietly, imperceptibly—whenever hard work and thankless tasks are required. Courage is there when someone stands up for an unpopular opinion that they believe is necessary and right. Courage is responsible whenever someone looks illness, injury, hardship, or death straight in the eye and says, “I’m not afraid of you.”

Courage, according to our Stoic sources, is “knowledge of how to distinguish between what is bad and what is not,” or “the science of what ought and ought not to be tolerated.” It includes “endurance, confidence, great-heartedness, stout-heartedness, love of work” and results in “constancy and vigor.” In other words, courage, in its fullest, richest sense, covers a broad range of daily human concerns. Courage touches us anytime we decide to do something difficult just because it’s the right thing to do. It spurs us on to help others when we might be reluctant or scared, and it teaches us both when we should speak up and when we should remain quiet.

It can be easy to overlook the important place for courage in our day-to-day lives. Sometimes courage seems more like a virtue that’s needed only every once in a while, when disaster strikes or in high-adrenaline situations. But the truth is, we need courage on a daily basis to help us make good choices.

Do we take the path of least resistance, for example, by going along with what everyone else is doing? Do we have the stamina to endure a difficult and demanding experience when it’s the right thing to do? Do we have courage to admit when we are wrong? These decisions extend into every area of life, from work to relationships to where we spend our time and money. When we are not afraid of hardship, we can dare to make choices that align with our values, regardless of the physical or social consequences.

Quiet, consistent forms of courage, when applied correctly, can be just as heroic as bolder and more dashing acts of valor. In fact, I think sometimes those unrecognized, unappreciated acts of courage are greater than the dazzling ones. While physical heroism is often rewarded with recognition and sometimes money, many people courageously labor at thankless but necessary tasks and do not receive any recognition or reward. What counts is the judgment you make when you decide to stand firm in the face of hard work, discomfort, or danger. The key to courage is your willingness to do what needs to be done, despite the risk of personal harm or inconvenience.

I would encourage (or en-courage) you to think about the ways in which you apply courage in your life. Are there times when you felt like giving up, but continued on anyway? Have you ever stuck to your guns when everyone around you thought differently? Have you ever borne with a difficult situation, an illness, or other challenges in your life? If so, you have been practicing courage. It’s possible that you’re more courageous than you think.

As Stoics, we are strong, capable, and courageous. We endure, we get things done, and we rise above the challenges and difficulties that inevitably follow us through life. We don’t give up when the going gets tough. If you haven’t been as courageous as you would have liked in the past, think about ways you can practice expanding your courage to new areas. The ancient Stoics recommended practicing courage during the easy times so we will prepared for the difficult times.

Below I’ve compiled a few definitions of Stoic courage from ancient philosophers, followed by advice from the Roman Stoics on how to become more courageous. I invite you to spend a few minutes soaking in the definitions and really thinking through how they apply (or could apply) in your life. And then find inspiration in the rousing words of the Roman Stoics, who highly prized courage. I hope you will find exactly the kind of courage you need right now—and in the future.

Definitions of Courage

Of virtues some are primary, some subordinate to the primary. There are four primary virtues: prudence, temperance, courage, justice. And prudence concerns appropriate acts; temperance concerns human impulses; courage concerns instances of standing firm; justice concerns distributions. Of those subordinate to these, some are subordinate to prudence, some to temperance, some to courage, some to justice. To prudence are subordinate deliberative excellence, good calculation, quick-wittedness, good sense, <a good sense of purpose>, resourcefulness. To temperance: organization, orderliness, modesty, self-control. To courage: endurance, confidence, great-heartedness, stout-heartedness, love of work. To justice: piety, good-heartedness, public-spiritedness, fair dealing…

Endurance is knowledge which stands by correct decisions; confidence is knowledge in virtue of which we know that we shall meet with nothing that is terrible; great-heartedness is knowledge which makes one superior to those things which naturally occur among both virtuous and base men; stout-heartedness is knowledge in a soul which makes it [the soul] invincible; love of work is knowledge which achieves its goal by labor, not being deterred by hard work… (Arius Didymus via Stobaeus, 5b2)

Courage considers everything which one should endure and, in the second instance, the topics of the other virtues (Arius Didymus via Stobaeus, 5b5)

Of virtues, some are primary and some are subordinate to these. The primary are these: prudence, courage, justice, and temperance. Forms of these are magnanimity, self-control, endurance, quick-wittedness, and deliberative excellence. And prudence is the knowledge of which things are good and bad and neither; courage is knowledge of which things are to be chosen and avoided and neither… (Diogenes Laertius, 7.92)

He who has virtue has a theoretical knowledge of what is to be done and also practices it. And what one is to do and choose is also what one is to endure for and stand firmly by and distribute, so that if he does some things by way of choosing and other by way of enduring and others by way of distributing and others by standing firmly by [something], one will be prudent and courageous and just and temperate. Each of the virtues is demarcated by a particular sphere of relevance, such as courage which is concerned with what is to be endured, prudence with what is to be done and what not and what is neither; similarly, the other virtues revolve around the proper objects. Deliberative excellence and understanding follow on prudence, organization and orderliness on temperance, evenhandedness and fairness on justice, constancy and vigor on courage. (Diogenes Laertius, 7.126)

They would not be wondering what is appropriate to a courageous person if they knew what courage is. It is neither rash bravado nor thrill-seeking nor love of danger. Rather it is knowledge of how to distinguish between what is bad and what is not. (Seneca, Letters on Ethics, 85.28)

What is courage? It is the impregnable fortification for human weakness. By encircling himself with it, a person can calmly endure throughout this life's siege, because he uses his own strength and his own weapons. (Seneca, Letters, 113.27)

Learning and Practicing Courage

A brave and great spirit in general is seen in two things. One lies in disdain for things external, in the conviction that no human being should admire, choose, or pursue anything except what is right and fitting, and should not give way to another human being or to emotional agitation or fortune. The second is that you should, in the state of mind I have described, perform actions which are great, indeed, but above all are beneficial, and you should vigorously undertake difficult and demanding tasks which endanger both life itself and much that concerns life. (Cicero, On Duties, 1.66)

And the person educated correctly, whoever it be, whether male or female, must become accustomed to endure toil, to not fear death, and to not become dejected in the face of any misfortune. By doing these things, a person would become courageous. (Musonius Rufus, Lectures, 4.7)

Could someone acquire instant self-control by merely knowing that he must not be conquered by pleasure but without training to resist them? Could someone become just by learning that he must love moderation but without practicing the avoidance of excess? Could we acquire courage by realizing that things which seem terrible to most people are not to be feared but without practicing being fearless toward them? Could we become wise by recognizing what things are truly good and what things are bad but without having been trained to look down on things which seem to be good? (Musonius Rufus, Lectures, 6.2)

Being fearless, undaunted, and bold—these are the products of courage. And how else could these become someone's qualities more effectively than if he would become firmly convinced that death and pain are not evils? For death and pain are things which derange and frighten those who have been convinced that they are evils. Philosophy alone teaches that they are not evils. (Musonius Rufus, Lectures, 8.6)

Haven't you been endowed with faculties that enable you to bear whatever may come about? Haven't you been endowed with greatness of soul? And with courage? And with endurance? (Epictetus, Discourses, 1.6, 28)

“By your account, the courageous person will put himself in harm's way.” No, he won't. He won't fear dangers, but he will avoid them. It is fitting for him to exercise caution, but not for him to be afraid. “What do you mean? Won't he be afraid of death, prison, fires, and all the other darts fortune may cast?” No, for he knows that they are not bad but only seem so. He thinks of them as the hobgoblins of human life. (Seneca, Letters on Ethics, 85.26)

Just so has fortune often had the upper hand with you, and yet you have never surrendered: you have jumped up and stood still more boldly on your feet. For courage increases when it meets with a challenge. (Seneca, Letters on Ethics, 13.3)

For the mind is more powerful than every act of fortune: by itself the mind guides its affairs one way or the other, and is the cause of a happy or unhappy life for itself. A bad mind turns everything into bad, even things that have arrived looking excellent. A mind that is upright and sound corrects fortune's wrongs, softens its hardness and roughness with the knowledge of how to endure, receives prosperity with gratitude and moderation, and shows firmness and fortitude in face of adversity. (Seneca, Letters on Ethics, 98.2-3

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Photo credit: Aaron Burden on Unsplash