Doris Kearns Goodwin Quote

Transforming his body was only one step in the psychological struggle against what Teedie shamefully considered his timid nature. There were all kinds of things of which I was afraid at first, he acknowledged, but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid. As a childhood friend observed, by constantly forcing himself to do the difficult or even dangerous thing, he was able to cultivate courage as a matter of habit, in the sense of repeated effort and repeated exercise of will-power.

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Transforming his body was only one step in the psychological struggle against what Teedie shamefully considered his timid nature. There were all kinds of things of which I was afraid at first, he acknowledged, but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid. As a childhood friend observed, by constantly forcing himself to do the difficult or even dangerous thing, he was able to cultivate courage as a matter of habit, in the sense of repeated effort and repeated exercise of will-power.

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About Doris Kearns Goodwin

Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of numerous U.S. presidents. Goodwin's book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1995. Goodwin produced the American television miniseries Washington. She was also executive producer of "Abraham Lincoln", a 2022 docudrama on the History Channel. This latter series was based on Goodwin's Leadership in Turbulent Times.