Courage Is that quality of the mind that enables men to encounter difficulties and dangers. Natural courage is that which arises chiefly from constitution; moral or spiritual is that which is produced from principle, or a sense of duty. Courage and Fortitude are often used as synonymous, but they may be distinguished thus: fortitude is firmness of mind that supports pain; courage is active fortitude, that meets dangers, and attempts to repel them.
See FORTITUDE. Courage, says Addison, that grows from constitution, very often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; and when it is only a kind of instinct in the soul, it breaks out on all occasions, without judgment or discretion; but that courage which arises from a sense of duty, and from a fear of offending Him that made us, always acts in an uniform manner, and according to the dictates of right reason.