Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.
The great trilogy of philosophy began with Socrates. His pupil Plato further expanded the realm of thought and at his death passed the torch to his pupil, Aristotle. At the age of eighteen Aristotle came to Athens from Macedonia in the north for the purpose of studying with Plato. Although he was an original thinker who made great contributions of his own, he remained a student in Plato's Academy for twenty years. When Plato died he may have felt disappointment in not being chosen to head the school which Plato had founded but at that time Philip, king of Macedonia, invited him to become the tutor of his son who came to be known as Alexander the Great.