You take a number of small steps which you believe are right

"You take a number of small steps which you believe are right, thinking maybe tomorrow somebody will treat this as a dangerous provocation. And then you wait. If there is no reaction, you take another step: courage is only an accumulation of small steps." Thus spoke George Konrád, the Hungarian novelist, dissident, and moral philosopher who lived under the shadow of tyranny and censorship. In this profound reflection, he unveils the secret nature of courage—not as a single, blazing act of defiance, but as a steady flame kept alive through countless quiet acts of faith. For Konrád, courage was not the shout of the hero in the open field, but the whispered “yes” of conscience that endures in silence, under watchful eyes, behind closed doors.

Konrád’s life was forged in the crucible of oppression. Living through Nazi occupation, communist rule, and the constant threat of surveillance, he knew that bravery in such times was not an abstraction but a daily labor. To speak truth, to write honestly, to think freely—each was a risk, a step toward danger. Yet he took these steps, one after another, not because he was fearless, but because he believed that freedom required persistence. Thus his words remind us: courage is not a thunderclap—it is a heartbeat. It grows through repetition, through the small acts of integrity that accumulate until they become unshakable resolve.

In the ancient world, the philosophers of virtue understood this same truth. Aristotle taught that courage is a habit, formed through practice. No one becomes brave by accident. Just as the body is strengthened by repeated effort, so the soul is fortified by small choices made in righteousness. The warrior becomes steadfast not on the battlefield, but in the long training before it; the thinker becomes bold not in speech, but in the silent discipline of thought. Likewise, Konrád shows us that moral courage is built step by step, through small acts of honesty in an age of deceit, small stands for truth when silence is easier.

Consider the story of Vaclav Havel, the Czech playwright and dissident who later became president. For years under communist rule, he lived under scrutiny, often imprisoned for his words. Yet he continued to write, to meet with others in secret, to plant seeds of truth in a barren soil of lies. Each essay, each gathering, each refusal to surrender was a small step—none alone sufficient to bring down an empire, but together, unstoppable. His courage was not sudden; it was cumulative, born from the rhythm of persistence. And when the time came, the steps he had taken became a path for his nation’s liberation.

In this, Konrád’s wisdom is both timeless and universal. Every human life contains moments where we must choose between comfort and conscience. Rarely do we face grand, decisive trials that define us in a single instant. More often, we are tested in the small steps—in the daily choices to speak honestly, to act kindly, to resist what is wrong though others approve of it. To take each step is to risk disapproval, to face uncertainty, to wonder if one’s efforts matter. Yet over time, these steps accumulate into something greater—a life of integrity, a legacy of courage that no tyrant can erase.

Konrád’s words also teach patience. Courage, he says, grows in the waiting. It is not only in action but in endurance that strength is forged. When one step passes without disaster, we learn to trust the next. Each act of bravery builds upon the last, until fear loses its power. This is how all movements of truth are born: not in revolution’s explosion, but in the quiet gathering of hearts that refuse to yield. The steps of conscience, taken faithfully, become the march of history itself.

So, my children of tomorrow, learn from this: do not wait for the perfect moment to be brave. Take the step before you—the small one, the uncertain one, the one that seems too modest to matter. Speak when your voice trembles. Stand when your knees shake. Act when your heart doubts. Each small act of courage is a stone in the bridge that carries the world forward. Over time, these steps will shape your character, and your character will shape destiny.

For in the end, George Konrád was right: courage is not a gift bestowed upon the few, but a craft built by the faithful. Step by step, truth by truth, soul by soul—it grows. And when the winds of fear rise again, as they always do, remember that courage will rise higher still, borne on the countless, quiet steps of those who refused to stop walking.