"The more wit the less courage"
About this Quote
The line balances on a paradox: the keener the mind, the more timid the hand. Wit sees consequences before they arrive. It multiplies possibilities, anticipates objections, and imagines humiliations in high definition. That very foresight, so useful for speech and strategy, can suffocate bold action. A person quick with words can be slow to step forward, not from lack of principle but from excess of perception.
Fuller works within an early modern moral tradition that prized both valor and prudence yet worried about the vices that shadow them. Courts and salons rewarded brilliance, but soldiers and saints defined honor through deeds. The saying gently skewers a culture where cleverness can become a substitute for commitment. Think of Hamlet brooding that conscience makes cowards of us all: thought refines hesitation. Fuller compresses that idea even further, hinting that intellectual agility can rationalize retreat.
There is also a social dimension. Wit thrives on distance, on the wry angle that keeps one safe from earnestness and risk. Irony is a shield; bravery requires exposure. The more one cares about appearing sharp, the more one fears the stumble that might dent that image. Courage, by contrast, tolerates loss of face and embraces uncertainty.
The aphorism is not a natural law. Courage without wit becomes recklessness; wit without courage shrivels into cynicism. The point is calibration. Let wit scout the terrain, but do not let it build a labyrinth you never exit. Let imagination estimate costs, but remember that some goods only reveal themselves in the doing.
The warning travels well into the present. Analysis paralysis, performative snark online, the ease of critique over the difficulty of creation: these are modern faces of the imbalance Fuller names. The remedy is a disciplined alliance between mind and will, where intelligence informs and then yields to the moment action is due.
Fuller works within an early modern moral tradition that prized both valor and prudence yet worried about the vices that shadow them. Courts and salons rewarded brilliance, but soldiers and saints defined honor through deeds. The saying gently skewers a culture where cleverness can become a substitute for commitment. Think of Hamlet brooding that conscience makes cowards of us all: thought refines hesitation. Fuller compresses that idea even further, hinting that intellectual agility can rationalize retreat.
There is also a social dimension. Wit thrives on distance, on the wry angle that keeps one safe from earnestness and risk. Irony is a shield; bravery requires exposure. The more one cares about appearing sharp, the more one fears the stumble that might dent that image. Courage, by contrast, tolerates loss of face and embraces uncertainty.
The aphorism is not a natural law. Courage without wit becomes recklessness; wit without courage shrivels into cynicism. The point is calibration. Let wit scout the terrain, but do not let it build a labyrinth you never exit. Let imagination estimate costs, but remember that some goods only reveal themselves in the doing.
The warning travels well into the present. Analysis paralysis, performative snark online, the ease of critique over the difficulty of creation: these are modern faces of the imbalance Fuller names. The remedy is a disciplined alliance between mind and will, where intelligence informs and then yields to the moment action is due.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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