BBC: (...) Would you say that courage was something that one acquired or something one was born with?

John Ford: Well, how do you expect me to answer that?

BBC: Because... your work... your films... are full of courageous people. Their activities in the war are full of courage... and you chronicle some of the most courageous incidents... in history. You do seem to be... interested in courage.

John Ford: I don't know, I've tried to figure it out. I'm a... I am really a coward. I know I am, so that's why I did foolish things. I was decorated eight or nine times trying to prove I was not a coward. But after it was all over I still knew, I still know, that I was a coward. I've always found that the quiet little man, that no one pays attention to, usually has more guts... Do they use guts in BBC, hmm?

BBC: Sure.

John Ford: ... has more guts and courage than the big blow hard, the big noisy, you know, the big outspoken fellow... It's the little man that does the courageous things.