Just as courage imperils life, fear protects it.

The aphorism sets courage and fear in a pragmatic balance rather than treating one as purely virtuous and the other as purely shameful. Courage, in pushing beyond safety, can expose a person to real danger (“imperils life”); fear, though often criticized, can function as an adaptive warning system that preserves life by prompting caution and retreat. Read this way, the line argues for a realistic ethics of self-preservation: bravery has costs, and fear has uses. Its significance lies in reframing fear as potentially protective rather than merely cowardly, suggesting that wise action involves discerning when boldness is warranted and when caution is the more life-sustaining choice.