Note on Courage

Today I read a quote in the morning newspaper about courage by Jean Jaures, renown founder of socialist politics in France, assassinated a hundred years ago on July 31 at the Bar du Croissant. His death turned out to be the eve of WW II. 

What Jean Jaures said about courage (Courage is to look for truth, and to speak it out; (…) Courage is understanding one’s own life, deepening it, making it more precise and grounded, while synchronising it with life at large (…) Courage is moving towards the ideal, and understanding the real) reminds me of the semi pragmatic, semi spiritual To Do Lists, which designer Brynjar Sigurdarson drafts for himself  every night, in preparation of the next day. For him, these lists work as a form of invocation and self-education. They will be published for the first time in the upcoming issue of Field Essays.

” Le courage c’est de chercher la vérité et de la dire; c’est de ne pas subir la loi du mensonge triomphant qui passe (…). Le courage c’est de comprendre sa propre vie, de la préciser, de l’approfondir, de l’établir et de la coordonner cependant à la vie générale (…). Le courage, c’est d’aller à l’idéal de comprendre le réel.”
Discours à la Jeunesse, Jean-Jaures, Albi, 1903.