QuoteProject
I don't think that anybody in any war thinks of themselves as a hero. The minute anybody presumes that they are heroes, they get their boots taken away from them and buried in the sand.
Steven Spielberg
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that true heroes in war do not see themselves as such, as it can lead to arrogance and downfall.

Steven Spielberg's quote highlights the humility that often characterizes true bravery in the context of war. It implies that those who view themselves as heroes may lose their grounding and face dire consequences, as self-importance can cloud judgment and lead to recklessness. Authentic valor is rooted in the recognition of sacrifice and vulnerability, rather than in glorifying one's own role.

Themes

HeroismWarHumilityCourageSacrificeValor

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a speech about the nature of true courage in challenging situations.

More from Steven Spielberg

It starts with the writer-it's a familiar dictum, but somehow it keeps getting forgotten along the way. No film-maker, irrespective of his electronic bag of tricks, can ever afford to forget his commitment to the written word.
Steven SpielbergRead
When I was a kid, there was no collaboration; it's you with a camera bossing your friends around. But as an adult, filmmaking is all about appreciating the talents of the people you surround yourself with and knowing you could never have made any of these films by yourself.
Steven SpielbergRead
I just had a crazy, wild imagination all my life, and science fiction is the greatest outlet for me.
Steven SpielbergRead
From a very young age, my parents taught me the most important lesson of my whole life: They taught me how to listen. They taught me how to listen to everybody before I made up my own mind. When you listen, you learn. You absorb like a sponge - and your life becomes so much better than when you are just trying to be listened to all the time.
Steven SpielbergRead
I wanted to do another movie that could make us laugh and cry and feel good about the world. I wanted to do something else that could make us smile. This is a time when we need to smile more and Hollywood movies are supposed to do that for people in difficult times.
Steven SpielbergRead
There are so many rumours about so many of us in the public eye. Sometimes it's too hard to deny what is not true.
Steven SpielbergRead

Similar quotes

Money is far more persuasive than logical arguments.
EuripidesRead
The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead
The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.
Emma GoldmanRead
Those oft are stratagems which errors seem Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.
Alexander PopeRead
It is the storyteller who makes us what we are, who creates history. The storyteller creates the memory that the survivors must have - otherwise their surviving would have no meaning.
Chinua AchebeRead
My golf is so delicate, so tenuously wired together with silent inward prayers, exhortations and unstable visualizations, that the sheer pressure of an additional pair of eyes crumbles the whole rickety structure into rubble.
John UpdikeRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Steven Spielberg | QuoteProject