Whats this mean: “Cowards die many times before their deaths;The valiant never taste of death but once.”?

Question

it's a quote that caesar says from julius caesar, i'm having trouble understanding what it means..

how do cowards die many times be4 their deaths??

Answer 1

a coward will die in there heads many times because of there fear they will imagine the worst in many different scenarios. a valiant person will only die once, physically.

Answer 2

I think the "thousand deaths" the author is refering to would be all the times a person replays cowardly or unheroic acts in his/her mind.  Self-chastisement is usually the  most painful of all wounds.

Answer 3

Because of FEAR. A 'coward' will fear and worry and connive and scheme and worm their way out of doing something, like, well, going into battle.

A courageous warrior will go into battle, maybe fearful, but will fight and possibly die with dignity.

A coward will be just to opposite.

Answer 4

Cowards die but if they do die, they don't die a hero unless they earn it. When a valliant one dies people remember them as a legend.

Answer 5

cowards die a thousand deaths because of the shame they have from not fighting, for running. Shame eats at the soul in a thousand different ways. It creates a gulf between your mind, your heart, and your soul, between how you believe people percieve you as a person. You become lower than death. A thousand times lower. The valiant rush in to join the battle, they may taste death, but it will never be but once. They will never feel shame, will be percieved by others with pride and admiration. Death will only come once in their lifetime.

Answer 6

the cowards are afraid to do anything so they never really live.

Answer 7

Cowards have weak natures, they are not brave. They live in fear and are afraid of risk, so every move or decision they make is full of danger to them and they agonize over the possibility of harm coming to them...that is the meaning of many deaths. But the valiant are brave in nature and possess and display courage; they are able to  deal with danger and fear rationally without flinching. Therefore they do not expect or fear death in any situation although they may well know it is a possibility.

Answer 8

If you are cowardly, you are by defination a "fearful" person.  People who live in fear, internally perceive many things or people as threatening, they usually fear death itself....thereby, living in fear of dying, an individual will "die" many times before death actually finds them.  The word "die" is used rhetorically, not literally, in this case and signifies that they may "die" inside many times in anticipation of their potential demise.  The valiant, or brave, because they do not anticipate or fear death, will only die in reality when actual death finds them.