fight the good fight

English

Etymology

A translation of the Koine Greek phrase ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα τῆς πίστεως (agōnízou tòn kalòn agôna tês písteōs, “fight the good fight of faith”) in 1 Timothy 6:12 that appeared first in the Tyndale Bible, then in the King James Version.

Verb

fight the good fight (third-person singular simple present fights the good fight, present participle fighting the good fight, simple past and past participle fought the good fight)

1. To battle or try to achieve something for a noble cause.
   • 1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, pages 300–301:

     "My brethren," he said, "since God has not given our people victory in the combat, it must be because he requires of us, his spiritual soldiers, to fight the good fight of martyrdom, [...]"

   • 1912, Mary Roberts Rinehart, “God's Fool”, in Love Stories:

     [W]ho had imagined that her instruments of healing were a thermometer and a prayer-book; and who found herself fighting the good fight with a bandage machine?

   • 1983 December 17, William J. Hutchinson, “Whither Bl/GPA?”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 22, page 6:

     Nothing said heretofore undervalues or denigrates the sacrifices and accomplishments of those who have been out of the closet and fought the good fight for gay rights (often alone and against incredible odds) for so long.

   • 2001 June 10, Walter Kim, “What Do You Tell The Kids?”, in Time, retrieved 16 July 2014:

     Wouldn't it be nobler by far to fight the good fight with all the weapons available: a firm bass voice, a wagging finger, the Bible?