KCC: Master, I am troubled. We learn to make powerful the force of out bodies. Yet we are taught to reverence all against whom we may use such force.
Kan: When your life is threatened, or the innocent life of another, you will be prepared to defend them.
KCC: Being thus prepared better than others, should I not always stand and fight?
Kan: Ignore the insulting tongue, duck the provoking blow, run from the assault of the strong.
KCC: Are these not the actions of a coward?
Kan: The wild boar runs from the tiger. Knowing that each being well armed by nature with deadly strength, may kill the other. Running, he saves his own life, and that of the tiger. This is not cowardice. It is the love of life.

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Kung Fu: Why Running Away From a Fight is Not Cowardice

Grasshopper