"People are afraid, and when people are afraid, when their pie is shrinking, they look for somebody to hate. They look for somebody to blame. And a real leader speaks to anxiety and to fear and allays those fears, assuages anxiety."

Courage

Create & Download Quote Image

Select Template

Insight & Reflection

When Henry Louis Gates speaks about courage, it invites us to pause and reflect on our own journey. How often do we consider the subtle impacts of courage in our daily lives? This thought-provoking perspective challenges conventional wisdom and encourages a deeper understanding of ourselves.

About Henry Louis Gates

Henry Louis Gates Jr., popularly known by his childhood nickname "Skip", is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is a trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. He rediscovered the earliest known African-American novels and has published extensively on the recognition of African-American literature as part of the Western canon.

More quotes by Henry Louis Gates  ’
Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Henry Louis Gates

"The bottom line is that Wanda Sykes has the longest continuously documented family tree of any African-American we have ever researched."

Read more  ’

"Cuba is like going to a whole other planet. It's so different but it's so similar to the United States, to Miami. It's like a doppelgaenger. It's the mirror image. And I have no doubt, that once Cuba becomes democratic, that it will be the favorite tourist destination for Americans."

Read more  ’

"But you see, our society is still trapped in this binary, black/white logic and that has had some very positive implications for our generation. It's had some very negative ones as well and one of the negative ones is that it creates enormous identity problems for people who have one black ancestor and all white ancestors for example."

Read more  ’

More about Courage

"The canvas of imagination has no boundaries except those imposed by fear. Such is the immutable nature of understanding — an essential principle for the reflective life."

Read more  ’

"Fear will knock at every door; only those with resolved hearts refuse to let it enter — an essential principle for the reflective life."

Read more  ’
View all Courage quotes  ’