Winston Churchill? William Arthur Ward? Googey Bince? Carl Hermann Voss? George W. Norris? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: It takes courage to stand up and speak, but it also takes courage to sit down and listen. This notion has been attributed to U.K statesman Winston Churchill, but I have never seen a solid citation, and I am skeptical. Would you please help me to trace this saying.
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in 1964 within “Quote: The Weekly Digest”. The statement was credited to U.S. motivational author William Arthur Ward who crafted many affirmational sayings. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; it is also what it takes, on occasion, to sit down and listen.
—William A. Ward, Texas Wesleyan College, Meadowbrook (Tex) Herald, 7-30-64.
William Arthur Ward is the most likely creator of this saying.
Winston Churchill died in 1965. He received credit for the saying by 1976, but the attribution was unsupported. Also, the website of the International Churchill Society lists an instance and indicates that it is not an authentic quotation from the statesman:2
Courage
‘Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.’
This fake quote is very often attributed to Churchill but appears nowhere in the Churchill canon.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1924 a partial match appeared in an article titled “My Party, Right or Wrong” by George W. Norris published in “Collier’s” magazine of New York. Norris was a U.S. Senator representing Nebraska, and he described an incident where he voted for a piece of legislation that was not supported by his political party. The following quotation did not mention listening:3
If I had known in advance that I was to be the only Republican who would vote in favor of the motion, I doubt whether I would have had the courage to stand up, but having stood up, I lacked the courage to sit down. It was the most lonesome moment of my life. I was terribly embarrassed.
In 1964 William Arthur Ward employed the saying as mentioned previously.
In March 1965 “The Osceola Record” of Nebraska printed a variant using the word wisdom. No attribution was given:4
If there are times when we need the courage to stand up and speak, there are also times when we need the wisdom to sit down and listen.
In August 1965 a columnist in the “Syracuse Herald-Journal” printed an instance while crediting a local personality:5
Googey Bince sez … “If there are times when we need th’ courage t’ stand up an’ speak, there are also times when we need th’ wisdom t’ sit down an’ listen.”
In 1966 the compilation “The Successful Toastmaster” contained the following entry:6
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; it is also what it takes, on occasion, to sit down and listen. — William A. Ward, Texas Wesleyan College.
In 1968 William Arthur Ward published a compilation of his sayings under the title “Thoughts of a Christian Optimist”. He included the following:7
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; it is also what it takes, on occasion, to sit down and listen.
In 1972 the compilation “Quotations of Courage and Vision” by Carl Hermann Voss printed an instance while crediting anonymous:8
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. Anonymous
In 1974 “Reader’s Digest” printed an instance while acknowledging the compilation by Voss:9
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
— Quotations of Courage and Vision, edited by Carl Hermann Voss (Association Press)
In 1976 “Forbes” published an instance on a page titled “Thoughts on the Business of Life”. Winston Churchill received credit:10
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. Winston Churchill
In 1978 the magazine “Soldiers” printed an anonymous instance seen on a bulletin board:11
“It takes courage to stand up and speak. It takes even greater courage sometimes to sit down and listen.”
—Bulletin board, Fort Belvoir, Va.
In 2003 the compilation “Worth Repeating: More Than 5,000 Classic and Contemporary Quotes” included this entry:12
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
—Anonymous
In 2004 an article in “The Daily Item” newspaper of Lynn, Massachusetts credited Churchill with the saying:13
One thought that might be of help to all parents are the words of Winston Churchill: “It takes courage to stand up and talk. It also takes courage to sit down and listen.”
In conclusion, the earliest citation in 1964 indicated that William Arthur Ward coined this saying. Winston Churchill received credit posthumously, and there is no substantive evidence that he crafted or used this expression.
Acknowledgements: Great thanks to Shantha R. Mohan and Tasha Eurich whose discussion and inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
Image Notes: Illustration of two individuals sitting and listening from Niek Doup at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
- 1964 September 20, Quote: The Weekly Digest, Topic: Courage, Quote Page 6, Column 1, Droke House, Richmond, Indiana. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- Website: International Churchill Society, Article title: Quotes Falsely Attributed to Winston Churchill, Date on website: January 17, 2023, About the website: The International Churchill Society is a member organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of Winston Churchill. (Accessed winstonchurchill.org on July 6, 2025) link ↩︎
- 1924 June 21, Collier’s: The National Weekly, “My Party, Right or Wrong” by George W. Norris (United States Senator from Nebraska), Quote Page 5, Column 2, P. F. Collier & Son Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1965 March 31, The Osceola Record, Osceola News, Quote Page 1, Column 4, Osceola, Nebraska. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1965 August 17, Syracuse Herald-Journal, City and Country Life by Joe Beamish, Section 2, Quote Page 9, Column 2, Syracuse, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1966, The Successful Toastmaster: A Treasure Chest of Introductions, Epigrams, Humor, and Quotations by Herbert V. Prochnow and Herbert V. Prochnow Jr., Topic: Courage, Quote Page 362, Harper & Row, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1968 Copyright, Thoughts of a Christian Optimist, The Words of William Arthur Ward, Quote Page 69, Droke House, Anderson, South, Carolina. (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) ↩︎
- 1974 April, Reader’s Digest, Number 624, Volume 104, Quotable Quotes, Quote Page 52, The Reader’s Digest Association, Pleasantville, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1976 October 1, Forbes, Thoughts on the Business of Life, Quote Page 128, Column 1, Forbes Inc., New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1978 February, Soldiers: The Official U.S. Army Magazine, Volume 33, Number 2, The Lighter Side, Quote Page 52, Column 1, U.S. Army Chief of Public Affairs, Department of the Army, Alexandria, Virginia. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2003, Worth Repeating: More Than 5,000 Classic and Contemporary Quotes, Compiled by Bob Kelly, Topic: Courage, Quote Page 68, Kregel Publications: A Division of Kregel, Inc., Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2004 May 28, The Daily Item, Alcohol: A legal drug that kills by Dr. Ted Dushan, Start Page B9, Quote Page B10, Column 3, Lynn, Massachusetts. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎