My definition of courage is never letting anyone define you.

“My definition of courage is never letting anyone define you.” Thus spoke Jenna Jameson, a woman whose life, though lived in controversy and judgment, yielded a truth as ancient as the first cry of the human soul: that courage is not only found on the battlefield or in the face of death — it is found in the daily struggle to remain oneself in a world that demands conformity. In her words we hear not vanity, but defiance; not pride, but survival. For to live freely, to claim the right to one’s own name and destiny, is one of the most sacred acts of courage known to humankind.

Her statement carries the fire of those who have walked through public scorn and refused to be erased by it. When she says, “never letting anyone define you,” she is calling upon the ancient principle that the soul must not be shaped by the voices of the crowd. Throughout history, men and women have been bound by the expectations of others — told who they are, what they should be, and how they must live. But those who find true strength break those chains. They rise, not to reject the world, but to remind it that each human being is an original creation, sovereign and whole.

This truth was known even to the ancients. Socrates, condemned by his city for “corrupting the youth,” refused to renounce his teachings or conform to what others demanded he be. They defined him as a criminal, but he chose instead to define himself as a seeker of truth. He drank the hemlock calmly, saying that the unexamined life was not worth living. So too did Jenna Jameson, in her own way, live this principle — facing judgment, rejection, and misunderstanding, yet holding fast to the truth that no one has the right to dictate the meaning of your life but you. Both understood that to surrender one’s identity to others is to die before death.

The meaning of courage in this light is profound. It is not merely bravery in danger, but integrity in the face of distortion. It is the refusal to be made smaller by the opinions of others. The world is quick to define — it builds walls of labels, cages of judgment, and masks of expectation. It tells the artist what is acceptable, the woman what is proper, the man what is strong. But those who possess courage tear away the masks. They understand that no label can hold the truth of the human spirit. To define oneself is to declare freedom; to live by that definition is to embody courage itself.

Consider the story of Harriet Tubman, born into slavery, called by her masters nothing more than property. Yet she refused to let them define her. She defined herself as free, long before the law did. Her courage was not only in escaping bondage, but in returning again and again to rescue others, guided by the light of her own inner certainty. The world tried to name her a fugitive; she called herself a liberator. In her life, we see the echo of Jameson’s words: that the highest form of courage is to let the voice within speak louder than the voices without.

But this kind of strength does not come easily. To resist the definitions of others requires both humility and fire. It means standing alone, misunderstood, perhaps even hated. It means knowing yourself so deeply that you no longer crave the world’s approval. The courage that Jameson speaks of is the same courage that every creator, thinker, and rebel must summon — the courage to live one’s truth even when the world calls it folly. To let others define you is to live a borrowed life; to define yourself is to walk the path of the soul.

Let this, then, be the lesson: guard the authorship of your life. Do not hand your pen to those who would write your story for you. When others speak of you, listen, but do not surrender. When they judge you, remember that even their judgment fades, but your choices remain eternal. To live by your own truth is to live in harmony with the divine spark that made you unique. Be gentle enough to learn, but fierce enough to remain yourself.

For as Jenna Jameson reminds us, the world may call you many things — but courage is to answer only to the name that your heart has chosen. This is the quiet heroism of life: not to conquer others, but to resist being conquered by their expectations. In this lies the truest freedom, the noblest defiance, and the eternal birthright of every soul — to define itself, and through that act, to truly live.