It is not courage, but foolhardiness, to fight alone against all that exists.

No one censures the pilot who makes for a port at the first gust of the whirlwind.

To stoop as the bullet passes is not cowardly--it is worse to defy it only to fall, never to rise again." "But could this sacrifice produce the fruit that I hope for ?" asked Ibarra.

"Would the priest believe in me and forget the affront?
Would they aid me frankly in behalf of the education that contests with the conventos the wealth of the country?
Can they not pretend friendship, make a show of protection, and yet underneath in the shadows fight it, undermine it, wound it in the heel, in order to weaken it quicker than by attacking it in front?
Granted the previous actions which you surmise, anything may be expected!" The old man remained silent from inability to answer these questions.

After meditating for some time, he said: "If such should happen, if the enterprise should fail, you would be consoled by the thought that you had done what was expected of you and thus something would be gained.