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Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.

Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson

Literature

The story behind the card

This maxim opens Chapter 12 of Mark Twain's novel Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894). Each chapter begins with a saying from ‘Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar’, the joke almanac kept by David Wilson, a clever lawyer whom his Missouri town dismisses as a fool, or ‘pudd'nhead’. The entry goes on to say that calling a creature brave only makes sense if it is partly a coward: otherwise the flea, which attacks people asleep or awake whatever their size, would be the bravest animal alive. Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Clemens (1835–1910).

Türkçe oku
Cesaret korkuya direnmek, korkuya hâkim olmaktır; korkmamak değildir.
Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson

Bu özdeyiş, Mark Twain'in Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) romanının 12. bölümünü açar. Romanın her bölümü, “Pudd'nhead Wilson'ın Takvimi”nden alınmış bir sözle başlar. David Wilson, Missouri'deki kasabasında herkesin “pudd'nhead”, yani ahmak diye küçümsediği zeki bir avukattır; takvim de onun her tarihin yanına alaycı bir söz eklediği şakacı bir defterdir. Söz şöyle sürer: Bir canlıya cesur demek, ancak o canlı biraz da korkaksa anlamlıdır. Yoksa, insan uyurken de uyanıkken de ona saldıran ve insanın kendisinden kat kat iri olmasına aldırmayan pire, dünyanın en cesur hayvanı olurdu. Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens'in (1835-1910) takma adıdır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Mark Twain
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