The original text is “Cowards die many times before their deaths” by William Shakespeare but I first heard this version in Tupac’s song “If I Die Tonight” This quote is appealing to me because it means the valiant will die only once, whereas cowards are able to weasel their way out their fate or never stand for something they are willing to die for (country, ideal, belief, love). Making this quote more relevant to me, I feel that cowards live mostly inside their minds and never put to action their thoughts. They tend to re-live moments or imagine fantasies of what they wish they could do but never have the courage to stop thinking and start doing. They think about their fears to the point of obsession and spend all day imagining thousands of different risks or outcomes. The “soldier” or the brave are just as scared as cowards, but the difference is their willingness to confront it and possibly die doing it.

Annotation: This phrase comes from one of Tupac’s famous songs “If I Die Tonight” from his album Me Against the World.