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Wise sayings
Have courage to use your own understanding!
Immanuel Kant1724–1804 · philosopher · 1700s-1800s GermanyImmanuel Kant was a German philosopher whose ideas about knowledge, morality, and reason reshaped modern philosophy.1 quote
Source foundCourage1700s

In plain words

Be brave enough to think for yourself.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is
91% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
What turned up
From Kant's essay 'Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?' (An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?), 1784 — the Sapere Aude ('dare to know') line. Wikiquote-sourced with named work.
Work
Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung? (An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?)
Occasion
1784 · Berlinische Monatsschrift, Prussia · philosophical essay
Sources checked
  • en.wikiquote.orgChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Wikiquote Courage theme page, sourced to 'What is Enlightenment?', 1784
  • sourcebooks.fordham.eduChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Fordham University's Internet Modern History Sourcebook hosts the full English translation of Kant's 1784 essay 'What is Enlightenment?' — this translation renders the motto 'Have courage to use your own reason!' (translators vary between 'reason' and 'understanding' for the same German original).

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More on courage

You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.Marcus AureliusYou can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.Rabindranath TagoreStrength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.Mahatma GandhiFor sometimes it is an act of bravery even to live.SenecaIf you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage.ConfuciusNever let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.Marcus Aurelius

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