--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Heroes are heroes because they are heroic…" description: "\"Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.\" — Nassim Nicholas Taleb" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42d/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_behavior_heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroi_1846400.png" --- # Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not… ![“Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.” quote by Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42d/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_behavior_heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroi_1846400.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42d/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_behavior_heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroi_1846400.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42d/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_behavior_heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroi_1846400.png) > “Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.” [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Heroes act heroically through their conduct, not by outcomes of victory or defeat. **In simple terms:** Heroism is about behavior. Key Takeaway Focus on actions. Themes heroism behavior integrity Mood respectful thoughtful Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - sports - politics - daily life Key Concepts ethics leadership philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How do you define heroism? - Can actions outweigh results? A Different Perspective Outcomes still matter to perception. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Behavior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/behavior/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Hero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hero/) [Heroes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heroes/) [Heroes Heroes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heroes-heroes-364460/) [Heroes Heroic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heroes-heroic-2393143/) [Heroic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heroic/) [Heroic Behavior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heroic-behavior-2393144/) [Lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lost/) ## Related quotes > [“It’s hard when you lose someone. I’ve had it happen. It changes your world, everything, but it doesn’t change who you are. People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-flinn/it-s-hard-when-you-lose-someone-i-ve-had-it-happen-it-changes-your/) [Alex Flinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-flinn/) > [“Heroes may be less than heroic, while the common man saves the day.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/heroes-may-be-less-than-heroic-while-the-common-man-saves-the-day/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [Heroes became heroes flaws and all gives us hope. "You mean I don't have to be perfect to fulfill my Dream, to make a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-mcwilliams/heroes-became-heroes-flaws-and-all-gives-us-hope-you-mean-i-don-t/) [Peter McWilliams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-mcwilliams/) > [My heroes are all dead. I've lots of heroes. My mum is a hero. She had to put up with me and my dad.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gavin-friday/my-heroes-are-all-dead-i-ve-lots-of-heroes-my-mum-is-a-hero-she-had/) [Gavin Friday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gavin-friday/) > [Everyone relates to the heroes - that's why they're the heroes. 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You don’t have to be perfect to fulfill your dream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-mcwilliams/heroes-became-heroes-flaws-and-all-you-don-t-have-to-be-perfect-to/) [Peter McWilliams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-mcwilliams/) > [“Today the word "hero" has been diminished. confused with "celebrity." But in my father's generation the word meant something. celebrities seek fame. They take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-bradley/today-the-word-hero-has-been-diminished-confused-with-celebrity-but/) [james bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-bradley/) > [But protagonists are protagonists and heroes are heroes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-baldacci/but-protagonists-are-protagonists-and-heroes-are-heroes/) [David Baldacci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-baldacci/) > [There are no heroes; we are all heroes on the street.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wael-ghonim/there-are-no-heroes-we-are-all-heroes-on-the-street/) [Wael Ghonim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wael-ghonim/) > [A lot of my characters are anti-heroes that became heroes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irvine-welsh/a-lot-of-my-characters-are-anti-heroes-that-became-heroes/) [Irvine Welsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irvine-welsh/) > [What are Heroes? Heroes are Men, Women and Children who do an act of Freedom, Bravery, Courage and/or Intellect in their lives to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/what-are-heroes-heroes-are-men-women-and-children-who-do-an-act-of/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [You are the heroes. You are the heroes everyday.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miep-gies/you-are-the-heroes-you-are-the-heroes-everyday/) [Miep Gies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miep-gies/) ## More by Nassim Nicholas Taleb > [To become a philosopher, start by walking very slowly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/to-become-a-philosopher-start-by-walking-very-slowly/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [Wittgenstein's ruler: Unless you have confidence in the ruler's reliability, if you use a ruler to measure a table you may also be using…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/wittgenstein-s-ruler-unless-you-have-confidence-in-the-ruler-s/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [In politics we face the choice between warmongering, nation-state loving, big-business agents on one hand; and risk-blind, top-down, epistemic arrogant big servants of large…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/in-politics-we-face-the-choice-between-warmongering-nation-state/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [My nightmare scenario is that the government saves Citibank once again, as well as the other banks, and business resumes as usual. 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Put money…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/individuals-should-think-about-the-worst-case-scenarios-and-plan-for/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“If you are looking for your misplaced wallet in your living room, in a trial and error mode, you exercise rationality by not looking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/if-you-are-looking-for-your-misplaced-wallet-in-your-living-room-in-a/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“Most humans manage to squander their free time, as free time makes them dysfunctional, lazy, and unmotivated—the busier they get, the more active they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/most-humans-manage-to-squander-their-free-time-as-free-time-makes/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [We learn the most from fools ... yet we pay them back with the worst ingratitude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/we-learn-the-most-from-fools-yet-we-pay-them-back-with-the-worst/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [We are victims of the post-Enlightenment view that the world functions like a sophisticated machine, to be understood like a textbook engineering problem and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/we-are-victims-of-the-post-enlightenment-view-that-the-world/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“loss of bone density and degradation of the health of the bones also causes aging, diabetes, and, for males, loss of fertility and sexual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/loss-of-bone-density-and-degradation-of-the-health-of-the-bones-also/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“It takes a huge investment in introspection to learn that the thirty or more hours spent “studying” the news last month neither had any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/it-takes-a-huge-investment-in-introspection-to-learn-that-the-thirty/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) [Explore all 635 Nassim Nicholas Taleb quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) ## More Behavior quotes > [The vision of the left, full of envy and resentment, takes its worst toll on those at the bottom - whether black or white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/the-vision-of-the-left-full-of-envy-and-resentment-takes-its-worst/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [As you begin changing your thinking, start immediately to change your behaviour. Begin to act the part of the person you would like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-you-begin-changing-your-thinking-start-immediately-to-change-your/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I now know that deep within the human concept is something dark, selfish, and completely willing to do whatever is necessary to support the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-west/i-now-know-that-deep-within-the-human-concept-is-something-dark/) [Melissa West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-west/) > [“We are endowed with genes which code out our reaction to beavers and otters, maybe our reaction to each other as well. We are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-endowed-with-genes-which-code-out-our-reaction-to-beavers-and/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [The number of poor, and poorly prepared, students who succeed in college and beyond undercuts the simplistic notion that economic or educational disadvantage is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-merullo/the-number-of-poor-and-poorly-prepared-students-who-succeed-in/) [Roland Merullo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-merullo/) > [To behave creatively in art means behavior with skill; and skill comes from discipline, not derangement. The artist who knows the rules -and proportion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/burne-hogarth/to-behave-creatively-in-art-means-behavior-with-skill-and-skill-comes/) [Burne Hogarth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/burne-hogarth/) > [You don't put milk in chamomile tea - that's disgusting behavior! That's not right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-fraser/you-don-t-put-milk-in-chamomile-tea-that-s-disgusting-behavior-that-s/) [Laura Fraser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-fraser/) > [The laws of thermodynamics, as empirically determined, express the approximate and probable behavior of systems of a great number of particles, or, more precisely,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-willard-gibbs/the-laws-of-thermodynamics-as-empirically-determined-express-the/) [J. 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We keep them pretty well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/if-you-want-good-behavior-don-t-pay-on-a-commission-basis-our-judges/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) [Browse all 4,218 Behavior quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/behavior/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroic-in-behavior-not-because/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Behavior" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroic-in-behavior-not-because/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42d/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_behavior_heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroi_1846400.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42d/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_behavior_heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroi_1846400.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42d/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_behavior_heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroi_1846400.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Heroes are heroes because they are...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroic-in-behavior-not-because/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/heroes-are-heroes-because-they-are-heroic-in-behavior-not-because/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```