Daily Inspiration Quote by Tommy Douglas

“Courage, my friends; ’tis not too late to build a better world” is a sermon line that behaves like a political strategy. Douglas opens with “Courage” not because the audience is weak, but because he knows exactly what they’re up against: fatigue, cynicism, and the socially acceptable belief that nothing really changes. The phrase “my friends” is doing quiet work, collapsing the distance between pulpit and pew, leader and citizen. He’s not issuing a decree; he’s recruiting a community.

The second clause is the real pivot. “’Tis not too late” assumes the opposite fear is already in the room: that the moment has passed, that power has calcified, that whatever injustice is being named is too entrenched to move. Douglas doesn’t argue with statistics or scold people into virtue. He offers time itself as a moral resource. The future is still open; therefore responsibility is still live.

“Build” is the key verb. It’s practical, collective, slow. Not “wish,” not “demand,” not even “dream” - build. That makes the line feel less like uplift and more like a work order, with faith reframed as civic labor. Coming from a clergyman who helped pioneer modern Canadian social democracy, the subtext is blunt: better worlds don’t arrive; they’re constructed through institutions, policy, and stubborn mutual care. The optimism isn’t naive. It’s disciplined - a refusal to let despair masquerade as realism.