This inspiring collection of courage quotes comes from a variety of sources. Here’s over 300 of the best quotes about courage and bravery that will inspire you to take action.
At times when you need courage to conquer fear
Courage is the ability to do something that frightens you. It is the process of taking action despite our fears. Everyone experiences fear, but not everyone responds to it with courage.
Many people allow their fear to control them, but those who are brave face their fears head-on. When you display courage in the face of adversity, you show strength, determination, and perseverance.
There are many different types of courage. Some people are afraid of public speaking but do it anyway. Others have a fear of heights but bravely climb mountains. Some people might even be afraid of death but still choose to protect others.
No matter what your fears are, know that you can overcome them by being courageous. The following courage quotes will inspire you to take action and face your fears head-on.
Inspirational Quotes About Courage
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
Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.
– Conrad Hilton
Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.
– Steve Maraboli
Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure you do things differently from everyone else.
– Sarah Blakely
Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goals: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.
– Louis Pasteur
For what it’s worth: It’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over again.
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.
– Franklin P. Jones
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 importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
The police are not here to create disorder; they’re here to preserve disorder.
– Richard J. Daley
When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.
– Paulo Coelho
Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.
– John Wayne
Whether it’s police officers, firefighters, first responders, or 9-1-1 dispatchers, many dedicated Americans work long hours, and often in difficult conditions, to make sure that when someone’s in need, they can help.
– Ajit Pai
To love ourselves and support each other in the process of becoming real is perhaps the greatest single act of daring greatly.
– Brene Brown
Never let the fear of striking out stop you from playing the game.
– Babe Ruth
It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.
– Theodore Roosevelt
It always seems impossible until it’s done.
– Nelson Mandela
Be Courageous Quotes
The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.
– R.G. Ingersoll
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.
– Napoleon Hill
You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both.
– Brené Brown
It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.
– André Gide
Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.
– Robert Louis Stevenson
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Do not judge me by my successes; judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again
– Nelson Mandela
Love is our strength to overcome the evils of the world.
– Amit Ray
You need to have faith in yourself. Be brave and take risks. You don’t have to have it all figured out to move forward.
It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.
– Nelson Mandela
You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone
– Roy T. Bennett
Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.
A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.
– Lao Tzu
The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.
– Brene Brown
Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.
Courage and Hope Quotes
If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then, come back and hit it again. Then, hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.
All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.
– Earl Nightingale
Have the courage to be who you are, not what people expect you to be.
– David Goggins
Courage is not the absence of fear – it’s inspiring others to move beyond it.
– Nelson Mandela
The future depends on what you do today.
– Mahatma Gandhi
To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to change often.
– Winston Churchill
Believe you can and you’re halfway there.
– Theodore Roosevelt
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
– Jim Ryun
Don’t be discouraged by life’s difficulties. With hope and determination, you can triumph over any difficulties.
– Lailah Gifty Akita
When you stop fighting, that’s death.
– John Wayne
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
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
– George Orwell
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.
If you want to be one of the few to defy those trends in our ever-softening society, you will have to be willing to go to war with yourself and create a whole new identity, which requires an open mind.
– David Goggins
The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
When anyone tells me I can’t do anything… I’m just not listening anymore.
– Florence Griffith Joyner
Motivational Courage Quotes
One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.
Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.
– Aristotle
Being a good police officer is one of the most difficult, dangerous, idealistic jobs in the world.
– Thomas Hauser
Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.
– BB King
True courage is a result of reasoning. A brave mind is always impregnable.
– Jeremy Collier
It is courage that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity.
– Horace
The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.
– Coco Chanel
We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
– J.K. Rowling
There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.
– Beverly Stills
You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
– Marcus Aurelius
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
We believe in ordinary acts of bravery; in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.
– Veronica Roth
You will never plow a field if you only turn it over in your mind.
– Irish Proverb
You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; it’s also what it takes to sit down and listen.
– Winston Churchill
Developing a good work ethic is key. Apply yourself at whatever you do, whether you’re a janitor or taking your first summer job because that work ethic will be reflected in everything you do in life.
– Tyler Perry
Quotations on Courage
Here’s what I think integrity is: It’s choosing courage over comfort. Choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast, or easy. And, practicing your values.
– Brene Brown
A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.
– John A. Shedd
Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength.
– Napoleon Bonaparte
All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.
A woman is like a tea bag — you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
We shall not fail or falter. We shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
– Winston Churchill
Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated.
– Robert Collier
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
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
– Robert Louis Stevenson
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
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
Be calm, yet assertive. Be meek, yet courageous. Be gentle, yet bold. Be kind, yet strong.
– Charles F Glassman
Reaching the goal is never the real goal. Facing challenges, overcoming them, and realizing your inner strengths while attempting a goal is the true goal.
– Manoj Arora
If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.
– Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
There is light at the end of every tunnel. To get there, just follow the silver lining.
– Anthon St. Maarten
Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.
– Winston Churchill
Short Courage Quotes
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
You must always remember this: Have courage and be kind. You have more kindness in your little finger than most people possess in their whole body. And, it has power. More than you know.
– Brittany Candau
There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.
– Seneca
I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lies defeat and death.
– Nelson Mandela
Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.
The undertaking of a new action brings new strength.
– Richard L. Evans
Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
– John Wooden
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
– T.S. Eliot
A man deserves a second chance, but keep an eye on him.
– John Wayne
Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.
– Zig Ziglar
I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me.
– Tracee Ellis Ross
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Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
– Psalm 23:4
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.
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
Famous Quotes About Courage
I learned that courage was 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
Genius is 99 percent perspiration and one percent inspiration.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.
– Charlie Chaplin
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
Being brave is when you have to do something because you know it is right, but at the same time, you are afraid to do it because it might hurt or whatever. But, you do it anyway.
– Meg Cabot
Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.
– Paulo Coelho
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.
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
Every day, in every city and town across the country, police officers are performing vital services that help make their communities safer.
– Eric Schneiderman
The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it.
– Gilbert K Chesterton
Our military, police, and first responders risk their lives to protect ours, and so today – and every day – we should thank those who serve and honor those we’ve lost.
– Kim Reynolds
Courage is found in unlikely places.
– J.R.R. Tolkien
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
– Winston Churchill
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
– Isaiah 40:31
Courage is a love affair with the unknown.
– Osho
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
– T. S. Eliot
Motivational Quotes on Courage
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: ‘The right hand of the LORD does valiantly, the right hand of the LORD exalts, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!’
– Psalm 118:14-16
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.
– Anaïs Nin
Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.
– Mary Tyler Moore
You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.
– George Lorimer
He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
– Muhammad Ali
Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.
– Jim Rohn
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
– E.E. Cummings
It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.
– J. K. Rowling
Once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them.
– Nelson Mandela
To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.
– Henri Matisse
Blessed are the peacekeepers, for they will be called children of God.
– Matthew 5:9
Related: God Quotes
Just because it’s what’s done doesn’t mean it’s what should be done.
– Brittany Candau
Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.
– Nora Ephron
Don’t pick a fight, but if you find yourself in one, I suggest you make damn sure you win.
– John Wayne
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!”
– Psalm 31:24
You cannot swim for new horizons until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” –William Faulkner
– nan
Courage Sayings
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.
– Joseph Campbell
DARING is not saying ‘I’m willing to risk failure.’ Daring is saying ‘I know I will eventually fail, and I’m still all in.’
– Brene Brown
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
– A.A Milne
Choose the great adventure of being brave and afraid at the exact same time.
– Brené Brown
All the screen cowboys behaved like real gentlemen. They didn’t drink, they didn’t smoke. When they knocked the bad guy down, they always stood with their fists up, waiting for the heavy to get back on his feet. I decided I was going to drag the bad guy to his feet and keep hitting him.
– John Wayne
The best way out is always through.
– Robert Frost
It’s your life; you don’t need someone’s permission to live the life you want. Be brave to live from your heart.
– Roy T. Bennett
Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it has been said it is the quality which guarantees all others.
– Winston Churchill
I won’t be wronged. I won’t be insulted. I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.
– John Wayne
The best way to predict your future is to create it.
– Abraham Lincoln
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Hope is a pillar of faith. It is a pillar which holds our desired dreams.
– Lailah Gifty Akita
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
Dreams can come true, but there is a secret. They’re realized through the magic of persistence, determination, commitment, passion, practice, focus, and hard work. They happen a step at a time, manifested over years, not weeks.
– Elbert Hubbard
Related: Hard Work Quotes
Today, walk with courage in all that you do.
– Heather Stillulyen
Famous Courage Quotes
You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.
– Mary Tyler Moore
When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it.
– John Wayne
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
– Isaiah 43:2
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
– Isaiah 26:3
The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
– Robert Peel
I learned to always take on things I’d never done before. Growth and comfort do not coexist.
– Virginia Rometty
Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.
– Mary Kay Ash
Either you run the day or the day runs you.
– Jim Rohn
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid.
– Psalm 27:1
The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
Courage is like—it’s a habitus, a habit, a virtue: You get it by courageous acts. It’s like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging.
– Brene Brown
Everyone has talent. What’s rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.
– Erica Jong
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
– Mark Twain
To dream anything that you want to dream. That’s the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed.
– Bernard Edmonds
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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
You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.
– Brene Brown
Sayings about Courage
Heroes are people who face down their fears. It is that simple.
– David Gemmell
Courage is grace under pressure.
Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, I’m possible!
– Audrey Hepburn
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.
– Psalm 16:9
Belonging doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to BE who we are.
– Brene Brown
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
The expert in anything was once a beginner.
– Helen Hayes
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
– Philippians 4:13
Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.
– Jonas Salk
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
To overcome fear, here’s all you have to do – realize the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway.
– Peter McWilliams
If you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
– John Wayne
Expect the unexpected, and whenever possible, be the unexpected.
– Lynda Berry
Mistakes are always forgivable if one has the courage to admit them.
You either walk inside your story and you own it, or you stand outside your story and hustle for your worthiness.
– Brene Brown
Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.
– Winston Churchill
Quotes About Courage
Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.
– Brene Brown
I have lived my life according to this principle: If I’m afraid of it, then I must do it.
– Erica Jong
Don’t give in to your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.
– Paulo Coelho
Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.
– Edward Vernon Rickenbacker
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
If you’re going through hell, keep going.
– Winston Churchill
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
He is courageous who endures and fears the right thing, for the right motive, in the right way, and at the right times.
– Aristotle
Courageous people do not fear forgiving for the sake of peace.
– Nelson Mandela
Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do
– Nelson Mandela
A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.
– John Wayne
To try is to risk failure. But, risk must be taken because the greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, live, and love.
– Leo Buscaglia
Vulnerability is not about winning or losing. It’s having the courage to show up even when you can’t control the outcome.
– Brene Brown
Teachers can open the door, but you must enter it yourself.
– Chinese proverb
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
– Joshua 1:9
We fear that we are inadequate, but our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
– Marianne Williamson
Inspiring Words on Courage
With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Never give up. Keep trying and pushing and struggling even if you don’t know what your goal is or why you would want to achieve it.
– Jack Handey
Related: Never Give Up Quotes
The strongest people find the courage and caring to help others, even if they are going through their own storm.
– Roy T. Bennett
Trust the still, small voice that says, ‘this might work and I’ll try it.’
– Diane Mariechild
Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And, believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.
– Misty Copeland
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
– Proverbs 18:10
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
– Mahatma Gandhi
It takes guts and humility to admit mistakes. Admitting we’re wrong is courage, not weakness.
– Roy T. Bennett
One of the most courageous decisions you’ll make is to finally let go of what is hurting your heart and soul.
– Brigitte Nicole
The future doesn’t belong to the light-hearted. It belongs to the brave.
Hope is the confidence of brighter tomorrows.
– Lailah Gifty Akita
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
– Walt Disney
It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.
– J.R.R. Tolkien
Our police officers are on the front line of a battle to maintain control of our streets.
– Priti Patel
That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
– Friedrich Nietzsche
Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help himself.
– P. T. Barnum
Words About Courage
Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one, it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.
– William Patten
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
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
With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.
– Margaret Mitchell
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.
– Khalil Gibran
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
– Christopher Reeve
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