coward

Every act of courage was, in some way, driven by fear. Fear of failure, fear of loss, fear for the safety of loved ones, fear of ridicule, fear of pain -- even the fear of fear itself. Thus, every hero -- every champion -- was also a coward. And conversely, every coward had the seeds of a hero within them."

It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen.