Cowardice
idea · 5 works · 7 mentions · 10 anchored passages
cowards · cowardly · cowardice · base · coward · cowardly actions · cowardly character · fearful shrinking of the soul · the coward
in the texts
Nicomachean Ethics
The vice of deficiency in respect of fear and confidence, opposed to Courage.
he that exceeds in fear and is deficient in confidence is Cowardly.
The man who runs away from everything in fear and never endures anything becomes a coward;
for example Cowardice, which is a vice of deficiency, is more opposed to Courage than is Rashness which is a vice of excess;
On Virtues and Vices
The vice of the spirited part, opposite of courage
the vices of the spirited part are irascibility and cowardice;
Cowardice is the vice of the spirited part, by which they are dismayed by fears, and most of all by those that concern death.
It belongs to cowardice to be easily moved by any chance fears, and most of all by those concerning death and bodily injuries, and to suppose that it is better to be saved in any way whatever than to die nobly.
Characters
The vice of excessive, disgraceful fear, defined at the start of the sketch and illustrated by the coward's actions.
Cowardice, you may be sure, would seem to be a kind of fearful shrinking of the soul;
Cyropaedia
The shameful opposite of valour, associated with defeat and moral baseness.
For you know how the brave celebrate a day in battle, and how cowards.
for I will never bring myself to do anything base or cowardly, if I can help it.
for at that moment you will find your opponents most cowardly and your own men valiant.
Memorabilia
Vice of misjudging and dealing badly with terrors and dangers.
So those who behave badly are utterly mistaken?
What of those who are afraid when there is no ground for fear?
Of course not, for in that case many madmen and cowards would be courageous.