Firemen are going to get killed. When they join the department they face that fact. When a man becomes a read more

Firemen are going to get killed. When they join the department they face that fact. When a man becomes a fireman his greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What he does after that is all in the line of work. They were not thinking of getting killed when they went where death lurked. They went there to put the fire out, and got killed. Firefighters do not regard themselves as heroes because they do what the business requires.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy -- common clay, if you like read more

Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy -- common clay, if you like -- eating, breeding, working, counting their pennies; people who just live; ordinary people; people you can't imagine dead. And then there are the others -- the noble ones, the heroes. The ones you can quite well imagine lying shot, pale and tragic; one minute triumphant with a guard of honor, and the next being marched away between two gendarmes.

We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.

We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.

The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when read more

The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be common, nor the common heroic.

Heroes are created by popular demand, sometimes out of the scantiest materials.

Heroes are created by popular demand, sometimes out of the scantiest materials.

What is a hero without love for mankind.

What is a hero without love for mankind.

A hero is someone we can admire without apology.

A hero is someone we can admire without apology.

..one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful read more

..one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought