Courage Quotes to Make You Feel Courageous

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Courage is the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.

When someone acts courageously, they show themselves to be willing to confront uncertainty, danger, or even pain; in short, to face their fears.

Being courageous isn’t always easy, and there are times in our lives when we have more courage than others.

Though we might associate courage with extreme danger and difficulty, the reality for most of us is that we have to be courageous in the face of our everyday lives. We must adapt to change and face our fears, however trivial they seem to those on the outside.

These are the best quotes about courage and being courageous to inspire you to confront your fears! Remember, being courageous isn’t about fighting a single battle. It can be something as small as getting up each day and trying again.

Quotes about Courage

Plato courage quote "Courage is knowing what not to fear"
“Courage is knowing what not to fear.” – Plato

Courage is the hallmark of spirituality. Courage comes when you love yourself for who you are.

Amit Ray

The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.

Jim Hightower

With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.

Mark Twain

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

Dorothy Bernard

Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.

Bethany Hamilton
JRR Tolkien courage quote "Courage is found in unlikely places"
“Courage is found in unlikely places.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

My definition of courage is never letting anyone define you.

Jenna Jameson

Real courage is knowing what faces you and knowing how to face it.

Timothy Dalton

Courage is on display every day, and only the courageous wring the most out of life.

Zig Ziglar

Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.

Ruth Gordon

Courage originally meant ‘To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.’

Brené Brown
"Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body"
“Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.” – Ovid

Courage is not the absence of fear or despair; it is the capacity to continue on despite them, no matter how great or overwhelming they become.

Robert Fanney

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities . . . because it is the quality which guarantees all others.

Winston Churchill

Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.

Eddie Rickenbacker

Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.

Winston Churchill
"Courage is like love, it must have hope for nourishment"
“Courage is like love, it must have hope for nourishment.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

All happiness depends on courage and work.

Honoré de Balzac

Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.

C.S. Lewis

Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.

Brené Brown

There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.

L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Hemingway quote "Courage is grace under pressure"
“Courage is grace under pressure.” – Ernest Hemingway

Have courage to use your own reason!

Immanuel Kant

Self-control is the chief element in self-respect, and self-respect is the chief element in courage.

Thucydides

Courage doesn’t happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life.

Shannon L. Adler

Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength.

Napoleon Bonaparte
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear"
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain

Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.

R.J. Palacio

Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone.
Kindness in another’s trouble,
Courage in your own.

Adam Lindsay Gordon

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

Aristotle
EM Forster quote "Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life"
“Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life.” – E.M. Forster

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life.

Daniel J. Boorstin

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

Nelson Mandela

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.

Hermann Hesse

Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start. Courage is what you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and you discover they aren’t so tough after all.

Malcolm Gladwell
Osho courage quote "Courage is a love affair with the unknown"
“Courage is a love affair with the unknown.” – Osho

Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.

James Freeman Clarke

It is only necessary to have courage, for strength without self-confidence is useless.

Giacamo Casanova

With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.

Margaret Mitchell

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

Harry S. Truman

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

Billy Graham
Erica Jong courage quote Courage is an acquired taste, like caviar"
“Always do the things you fear the most. Courage is an acquired taste, like caviar.” – Erica Jong

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.

Benjamin Franklin

Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is cor – the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant ‘To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.’

Brené Brown

True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason.

Alfred North Whitehead

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Christopher Paolini quote "Without fear there cannot be courage"
“Without fear there cannot be courage.” – Christopher Paolini

Courage consists not in hazarding without fear; but being resolutely minded in a just cause.

Plutarch

Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.

Ruth Gordon

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

Dale Carnegie

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.

Nelson Mandela

Courage is feeling fear, not getting rid of fear, and taking action in the face of fear.

Roy T. Bennett
"It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it"
“It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it.” – Pablo Casals

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.

G.K. Chesterton

He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he that loses his courage loses all.

Miguel de Cervantes

There’s only one requirement of any of us, and that is to be courageous. Because courage, as you might know, defines all other human behavior.

David Letterman

Courage is risking the known for the unknown, the familiar for the unfamiliar.

Osho

To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.

Henri Matisse
"I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster"
“I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.” – Catherine the Great

Quotes about Being Courageous

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.

T.S. Eliot

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

Helen Keller
John Wayne quote "Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway"
“Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.” – John Wayne

One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

Maya Angelou

You can choose to let this thing bother you or let this be an adventure and welcome the challenge.

Fred Rogers

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

Muhammad Ali

All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.

Earl Nightingale
Teddy Roosevelt quote "Believe you can and you're halfway there"
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9, NIV

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.

Victor Hugo

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.

Mary Anne Radmacher

It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity.

Horace
Nora Ephron courage quote "Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim"
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” – Nora Ephron

The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.

Stephen King

Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.

Maya Angelou

Everyone has talent. What’s rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.

Erica Jong

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.

Coco Chanel

There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Oliver Wendell Holmes quote "Have the courage to act instead of react"
“Have the courage to act instead of react.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

Have the courage to be who you are, not what people expect you to be.

David Goggins

Being brave means knowing that when you fail, you don’t fail forever.

Lana del Rey

There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.

Ronald Reagan

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.

Seneca

It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.

Theodore Roosevelt
"Courage is the only virtue you can’t fake"
“Courage is the only virtue you can’t fake.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

Steve Jobs

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Winston Churchill

Fight hard when you are down; die hard—determine at least to do—and you won’t die at all.

James H. West

To uncover your true potential you must first find your own limits and then you have to have the courage to blow past them.

Picabo Street
Carl Jung courage quote "Where your fear is, there is your task"
“Where your fear is, there is your task.” – Carl Jung

Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.

Bruce Lee

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.

Steve Jobs

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

T.S. Eliot

I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me.

Erica Jong

Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.

Winston Churchill

It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.

Erma Bombeck
EE Cummings quote "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are"
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” – E.E. Cummings

It takes courage…to endure the sharp pains of self discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.

Marianne Williamson

Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.

Robert Louis Stevenson

If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.

Harry Hoover

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

Vincent Van Gogh
Robert Frost courage quote "The best way out is always through"
“The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost

God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.

Chester W. Nimitz

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

André Gide

Courage is the secret sauce that allows you to act despite your fears.

Narayan Kamath

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’

Eleanor Roosevelt
Baltasar Gracian courage quote "Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit"
“Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.” – Baltasar Gracian

Have the courage to take your own thoughts seriously, for they will shape you.

Albert Einstein

It takes courage to examine your life and to decide that there are things you would like to change, and it takes even more courage to do something about it.

Sue Hadfield

There is no one more courageous than the person who speaks with the courage of his convictions.

Susan Cain

Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.

Madeleine L’Engle
Babe Ruth quote "Never let the fear of striking out get in your way"
“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” – Babe Ruth

Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Being terrified but going ahead and doing what must be done—that’s courage. The one who feels no fear is a fool, and the one who lets fear rule him is a coward.

Piers Anthony

It takes a great deal of courage to stand alone even if you believe in something very strongly.

Reginald Rose
Nietzsche courage quote "We ought to face our destiny with courage"
“We ought to face our destiny with courage.” – Freidrich Nietzsche

If there was no fear, how could there be comfort? Or courage?

Veronica Rossi

A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.

Lao Tzu

If you have a dream, don’t just sit there. Gather courage to believe that you can succeed and leave no stone unturned to make it a reality.

Dr. Roopleen

It’s the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.

Xiaolu Guo

The principal act of courage is to endure and withstand dangers doggedly rather than to attack them.

Thomas Aquinas
"Sooner or later even the fastest runners have to stand and fight"
“Sooner or later even the fastest runners have to stand and fight.” – Stephen King

You can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both.

Brene Brown

Courage is the commitment to begin without any guarantee of success.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Quotes to Inspire Courage

"Don’t get discouraged; it is often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock"
“Don’t get discouraged; it is often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.” – Unknown

Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.

Dale Carnegie

He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch

Jean-Luc Godard

Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

Pope John Paul II
Andrew Jackson courage quote "One man with courage makes a majority"
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

Each mistake teaches you something new about yourself. There is no failure, remember, except in no longer trying. It is the courage to continue that counts.

Chris Bradford

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.

John Quincy Adams

Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.

Bethany Hamilton
"Nobody learns what he can do except by trying"
“Nobody learns what he can do except by trying.” – Seneca

People who lack the clarity, courage, or determination to follow their own dreams will often find ways to discourage yours. Live your truth and don’t EVER stop!

Steve Maraboli

Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.

Confucius

Life is not about living the safer option. Life is about living a life worth living.

Robert Thier

Courage is not limited to the battlefield or the Indianapolis 500 or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody’s looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like standing alone when you’re misunderstood.

Charles Swindoll
"Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen"
“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” – Brené Brown

Trust the still, small voice that says, ‘this might work and I’ll try it.’

Diane Mariechild

Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.

Stephen Hawking

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird
"The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart"
“The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.” – R.G. Ingersoll

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.

Paulo Coelho

Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.

Ann Landers
David Goggins quote "Have the courage to be who you are, not what people expect you to be"
“Have the courage to be who you are, not what people expect you to be.” – David Goggins

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.

Eleanor Roosevelt

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

Martin Luther King Jr.

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.

Alan Cohen

I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare.

Maya Angelou
Carrie Jones quote "The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage"
“The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage.” – Carrie Jones

It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.

J.R.R. Tolkien

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

Mark Twain

You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.

Thomas Merton

Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it…

Wilferd Peterson
Napoleon courage quote "It requires more courage to suffer than to die"
“It requires more courage to suffer than to die.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

Think of yourself as an explorer. You cannot find anything new if you are unwilling to leave the shore.

Robert Greene

In all realms of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfill your potential.

Suze Orman

It takes guts and humility to admit mistakes. Admitting we’re wrong is courage, not weakness.

Roy T. Bennett

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Steve Jobs
John Shedd quote "A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for"
“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” – John A. Shedd

Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them… they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.

Orison Swett Marden

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.

Abraham Lincoln

I have lived my life according to this principle: If I’m afraid of it, then I must do it.

Erica Jong

If you’re not willing to risk, you cannot grow. If you cannot grow, you cannot be your best. If you cannot be your best, you cannot be happy. If you cannot be happy, what else is there?

Les Brown
"I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean"
“I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.” – G.K. Chesterton

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

Lao Tzu

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.

Christopher Reeve

Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.

Karl Von Clausewitz

To overcome fear, here’s all you have to do – realize the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway.

Peter McWilliams

It’s better to cross the line and suffer the consequences than to just stare at the line for the rest of your life.

Paulo Coelho
Anais Nin quote "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage"
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anaïs Nin

Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength and plenty of courage.

Anne Frank

Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.

Jonas Salk

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.

Marie Curie

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain
"Choose the great adventure of being brave and afraid. At the exact same time"
“Choose the great adventure of being brave and afraid. At the exact same time.” – Brené Brown

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

Dale Carnegie

It’s the hottest fires that make the hardest steel.

Kevin Yon, Born of Fire

The strongest people find the courage and caring to help others, even if they are going through their own storm.

Roy T. Bennett

You can and you will. The difficulty of it, is why you must.

Charles Rhoades, Sr., Billions

Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.

George Sheehan
"Do you have the courage to act outwardly on what you see inwardly?"
“Do you have the courage to act outwardly on what you see inwardly?” – T.D. Jakes

We hope these courage quotes have you ready to face challenges with confidence and strength. With courage, you can do anything!

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Quincy Seale

Quincy is KIM's lead editor and content writer, and has collected and shared inspiring quotes and stories since 2005. Quincy holds an MBA from the University of Dundee and an MSc from the University of Edinburgh, and lives in San Antonio with his wife Natalie, son Alex, and his dog Oban.