Courage Quote by Charles Payne
““There are heroes and, emphatically, heroines enough in this history. Yielding to the temptation to focus on their courage, however, may miss the point. Part of the legacy of people like Ella Baker and Septima Clark is a faith that ordinary people who learn to believe in themselves are capable of extraordinary acts, or better, of acts that seem extraordinary to us precisely because we have such an impoverished sense of the capabilities of ordinary people.””
About This Quote
Ordinary people, when believing in themselves, can achieve extraordinary acts; focusing solely on famous heroes can obscure this potential.
In simple terms: Self‑belief enables ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
Key Takeaway
Cultivate confidence in everyday individuals.
Themes
empowerment
heroism
self‑belief
legacy
Mood
inspirational
educational
Type
social
psychological
When to use this quote
- community activism
- education
- personal development
Key Concepts
social change
psychology
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we nurture self‑belief in marginalized groups?
- What stories of ordinary heroism inspire you?
A Different Perspective
May underestimate systemic barriers.
![“[Rosa Louise] Parks used to say, "Everybody looks at me because I sat down once in Montgomery, but the real hero is a woman named Septima Clark."She created the Citizenship Schools [where civil-rights activists taught basic literacy and political education classes].” quote by Marian Wright Edelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f70/marian-wright-edelman-2216_activist_rosa-louise-parks-used-to-say-everybody_3221562.jpg)
![“[Ella Baker]'s second defining characteristic was her dislike of top-down leadership... 'She felt leaders were not appointed but the rose up. Someone will rise. Someone will emerge'. It was an attitude Baker shared with some of the older women in the movement.” quote by Gail Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/cbe/gail-collins-3567_attitude_ella-baker-s-second-defining-characteris_2922893.jpg)
![“We look at the legacy of Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells and Ella Baker, Malcolm X and Martin King. We have, and part of the struggle now in the age of [Barack] Obama is how do we keep alive the legacy of Martin King?” quote by Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/23d/cornel-west-708_age_we-look-at-the-legacy-of-frederick-dougl_2704483.jpg)
