"Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow"
About this Quote
Courage, in Dan Rather's telling, isn’t a Hollywood superpower or a personality type. It’s a workflow: fear shows up on time, and you keep moving anyway. That phrasing matters. “Being afraid” refuses the macho fantasy that bravery means emotional vacancy; it makes fear the price of admission, not a disqualifier. “Going on” is even more pointed. It’s unglamorous, almost clerical, the language of deadlines and live shots. Courage becomes less about a single cinematic leap and more about staying in the chair when the story turns ugly, the phones light up, and the consequences get real.
The subtext carries the professional ethic of a journalist who spent decades inside the machinery of public trust. Rather’s career sits in the tension between ideals (holding power accountable) and institutions (networks, corporate pressures, political backlash). “Anyhow” is where the institutional reality leaks in: you go on despite uncertainty, despite imperfect information, despite the knowledge that someone will accuse you of bias, cowardice, or worse. It’s also a quiet corrective to the culture of certainty that media rewards on air. Admitting fear is an admission of stakes, not weakness.
In a media era that often mistakes loudness for bravery and hot takes for integrity, Rather’s line argues for a steadier metric: courage is continuity under pressure. Not fearlessness, but persistence with your hands shaking.
The subtext carries the professional ethic of a journalist who spent decades inside the machinery of public trust. Rather’s career sits in the tension between ideals (holding power accountable) and institutions (networks, corporate pressures, political backlash). “Anyhow” is where the institutional reality leaks in: you go on despite uncertainty, despite imperfect information, despite the knowledge that someone will accuse you of bias, cowardice, or worse. It’s also a quiet corrective to the culture of certainty that media rewards on air. Admitting fear is an admission of stakes, not weakness.
In a media era that often mistakes loudness for bravery and hot takes for integrity, Rather’s line argues for a steadier metric: courage is continuity under pressure. Not fearlessness, but persistence with your hands shaking.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
|---|
More Quotes by Dan
Add to List
