Courage

I love heroes, it's one of my favourite TV programmes, alongside Lost, Prison Break and 24.

For me my all time hero is Winston Churchill, closely followed by Muhammad Ali.

I am currently reading Churchills "History of the English speaking people" it's a good read, my favourite biography is Churchill written by Martin Gilbert.

The reason I admire Churchill and Ali is courage; they were both gifted men but they were also courageous .

Churchill Said Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others. "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. " Churchill stood up and spoke when others said he was mad, he persevered, he was courageous.

It was Ali who once said "He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." even in defeat I have always thought Ali was courageous "I never thought of losing, but now that it' s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life." he also said "Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even." so courage isn't always a quality of the victorious, but is more likely to help you gain victory.

Francis Ford Copolla who is my sort of hero, but only because he directed the God Father movies once said "You have to really be courageous about your instincts and your ideas. Otherwise you'll just knuckle under, and things that might have been memorable will be lost."

Without wanting to sound pretentious I want to live a courageous life.