Ralph Waldo Emerson? Mary Allette Ayer? Young People’s Weekly? John Milton? Kin Hubbard? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: Here are the first and last sentences of an inspirational passage:
Whatever you do, you need courage … Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
This passage has been credited to the transcendental philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, but I am skeptical because I have never seen a solid citation. Would you please explore this topic?
Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that Ralph Waldo Emerson composed this passage. Emerson died in 1882.
The earliest match located by QI appeared in the 1908 collection “Keep Up Your Courage: Key-Notes to Success” edited by Mary Allette Ayer. The accompanying acknowledgement pointed to a popular periodical for children. The author was not precisely identified. The final sentence used the word “men” instead of the phrase “men and women”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always some one to tell you you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to the end, requires some of the same courage which a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men to win them.
—Young People’s Weekly.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
The notion that peace has victories has a long history. The prominent English poet John Milton wrote a verse about Oliver Cromwell in 1652 which included that saying:2
And Worcester’s Laureat Wreath; yet much remains
To Conquer still; Peace hath her Victories
No less than those of War; new Foes arise
Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered a speech about war in Boston in 1838. The corresponding essay appeared in 1849 within a collection called “Aesthetic Papers”. Emerson stated that brave men were required to maintain peace. This is thematically related to the quotation being examined:3
If peace is to be maintained, it must be by brave men, who have come up to the same height as the hero, namely, the will to carry their life in their hand, and stake it at any instant for their principle, but who have gone one step beyond the hero, and will not seek another man’s life.
In 1908 the passage under examination appeared in the collection “Keep Up Your Courage” as mentioned previously. “Young People’s Weekly” received an acknowledgement.
In 1910 the passage was reprinted in “The Glencoe Mirror” of Oklahoma. No attribution was specified.4
In 1911 cartoonist Kin Hubbard published a one-panel comic with his popular character Abe Martin. The caption began with a thematically related observation:5
Peace has her victories but no monuments t’ unveil.
In 1924 the passage appeared in “The Book of Courage: A Little Book of Brave Thoughts” edited by Edwin Osgood Grover. The words were credited to Emerson. This was the earliest attribution to Emerson found by QI:6
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always some one to tell you you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to the end, requires some of the same courage which a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men to win them.
—EMERSON
In 1933 the “Daily Herald” of London, England printed the final line with an ascription to Emerson:7
To-day’s Thought
Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men to win them. —Emerson.
In 1937 “Forbes” magazine printed the passage together with miscellaneous quotations on a page titled “Thoughts On the Business of Life”. Emerson received credit for the passage.8
In 1959 “New Treasury of Stories for Every Speaking and Writing Occasion” compiled by Jacob M. Braude included an entry for the passage which was credited to Ralph Waldo Emerson.9
In 1972 “Quotations of Courage and Vision: A Source Book for Speaking, Writing, and Meditation” compiled by Carl Hermann Voss contained an entry for the passage which was credited to Ralph Waldo Emerson.10
In 1992 the final line appeared as the solution of a newspaper Cryptoquote puzzle. The sentence was altered to use the phrase “men and women” instead of “men”:11
Saturday’s Solution: “Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
In 1996 the passage credited to Emerson appeared in the column of a local pastor in a Louisville, Mississippi newspaper. The phrasing was slightly altered. For example, the word “people” replaced “men”:12
“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you’re wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave people to win them.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
In conclusion, the passage under study appeared in the 1908 collection “Keep Up Your Courage” which acknowledged “Young People’s Weekly”. QI has not yet found the issue of this periodical containing the passage. Hence, the author remains anonymous. In 1924 “The Book of Courage” edited by Edwin Osgood Grover credited the passage to Emerson, but QI has not found any substantive support for this attribution.
QI searched the database of “The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson” which is hosted by the University of Michigan Library and found no solid matches for the passage.
Image Notes: Illustration of peace dove carrying an olive branch from Clker-Free-Vector-Images at Pixabay.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Betty and Fake History Hunter whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
- 1908, Keep Up Your Courage: Key-Notes to Success, Edited by Mary Allette Ayer, Quote Page 6, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company, Boston, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- Year: 1694, Title: Letters of state written by Mr. John Milton, to most of the sovereign princes and republicks of Europe, from the year 1649, till the year 1659 … together with several of his poems, Author: John Milton, Poem title: To Oliver Cromwell. Quote Page XLV, Publication location: London, England. (Early English Books Online EEBO) link ↩︎
- 1849, Aesthetic Papers, Edited by Elizabeth P. Peabody, Chapter: War by Ralph Waldo Emerson, (Chapter note on page 36 states that text is from a lecture delivered by Emerson in Boston in March 1838), Start Page 36, Quote Page 49, G. P. Putnam, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1910 March 25, The Glencoe Mirror, (Filler item), Quote Page 1, Column 6, Glencoe, Oklahoma. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1911 January 3, Tulsa World, Abe Martin by Kin Hubbard, Quote Page 1, Column 4, Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1924 Copyright, The Book of Courage: A Little Book of Brave Thoughts, Edited by Edwin Osgood Grover, Quote Page 59, The Algonquin Publishing Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1933 September 26, Daily Herald, This Morning’s Postbag: To-day’s Thought, Quote Page 10, Column 6, London, England. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1937 November 1, Forbes, Thoughts On the Business of Life, Quote Page 54, Column 2, B. C. Forbes Publishing Company, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1959 Copyright, New Treasury of Stories for Every Speaking and Writing Occasion, Compiled by Jacob M. Braude (Jacob Morton Braude), Topic: Courage, Quote Number 508, Quote Page 84, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1972, Quotations of Courage and Vision: A Source Book for Speaking, Writing, and Meditation, Selected by Carl Hermann Voss, Topic: Courage, Quote Page 59, Association Press, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1992 May 18, The Sun, Cryptoquote by Patience Rayn, Quote Page B5, Column 2, Bremerton, Washington. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1996 March 6, Winston County Journal, The Pastor’s Pen by Carl Grubbs (Pastor of First United Methodist Church), Quote Page A13, Column 1, Louisville, Mississippi. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎