A man of courage flees forward, in the midst of new things.

Maritain’s aphorism reframes courage as an active, future-directed virtue. To “flee forward” suggests that bravery is not the absence of fear or the stubborn holding of a position, but the willingness to move into uncertainty—especially when “new things” (novel ideas, historical changes, unfamiliar responsibilities) disrupt settled habits. The paradox implies that retreat can take the form of clinging to the past, while genuine fortitude advances, even if that advance feels like escape from paralysis or nostalgia. In a broader Maritainian key, the line can be read as a defense of creative engagement with modernity: fidelity to truth does not require immobility, and moral courage may consist in entering new circumstances without surrendering one’s principles.