White Feather - A Symbol of Cowardice

A Symbol of Cowardice

The white feather as a symbol of cowardice supposedly comes from cockfighting and the belief that a cockerel sporting a white feather in its tail is likely to be a poor fighter. Pure-breed gamecocks do not show white feathers, so its presence indicates that the cockerel is an inferior cross-breed.

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Famous quotes containing the words symbol and/or cowardice:

    Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
    We have taken from the defeated
    What they had to leave us—a symbol:
    A symbol perfected in death.
    —T.S. (Thomas Stearns)

    The monster is never just there where we think he is. What is truly monstrous is our cowardice and sloth.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)