Freedom is a system based on courage.

The line frames freedom not as a passive condition granted by institutions, but as an active political and moral order that depends on citizens’ willingness to take risks. “System” suggests that liberty is sustained by habits, norms, and collective practices; “courage” implies the readiness to speak, dissent, and accept the costs of responsibility. Read this way, Péguy’s aphorism warns that legal guarantees alone cannot preserve liberty if fear, conformity, or cynicism erode public spirit. Freedom endures only when individuals and communities repeatedly choose it, even under pressure.