85 Courage Quotes That Will Inspire You to Face Your Fears
Updated: Dec. 08, 2023
Filled with passion and encouragement, these courage quotes will inspire you to be your best and rise to the occasion
Everyone needs a little courage now and then. Perhaps you’re making a career change or moving to a new place. Or maybe you’re taking a stand on something you’re passionate about. Whatever your reason, you may need some words of encouragement to give you the confidence to face the unknown and go for what you want. Luckily, there are plenty of courage quotes that inspire you to reach for greatness.
These courage quotes express how important it is to look within and find the fire that lights your path. Sure, the path may be scary and unknown, but with a little courage and a strong belief in yourself, you can get out of your comfort zone. So bookmark this courageous list of quotes so you have it handy for the next time you need an inspiring word or two.
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Quotes about strength and courage
1. “Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. “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
3. “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” —Brené Brown
4. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” —Maya Angelou
5. “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” —E.E. Cummings
6. “The secret to happiness is freedom … and the secret to freedom is courage.” —Thucydides
7. “Courage is being scared to death … and saddling up anyway.” —John Wayne
8. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” —William Faulkner
9. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” —
10. “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” —Winston Churchill
11. “Courage results when one’s convictions are bigger than one’s fears.” —Orrin Woodward
12. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” —Mark Twain
13. “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” —Coco Chanel
14. “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” —Muhammad Ali
15. “Courage is grace under pressure.” —Ernest Hemingway
16. “The opposite of courage is not cowardice; it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.” —Jim Hightower
17. “Creativity takes courage.” —Henri Matisse
18. “Courage is found in unlikely places.” —
19. “With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.” —
20. “Courage is the greatest of all virtues because if you haven’t courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.” —Samuel Johnson
21. “If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.” —John Irving
22. “To have courage for whatever comes in life—everything lies in that.” —Saint Teresa of Ávila
23. “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” —Vincent van Gogh
24. “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” —Aristotle
25. “Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” —Harper Lee
26. “Courage isn’t having the strength to go on—it is going on when you don’t have strength.” —Harper Lee
27. “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
28. “The best protection any woman can have … is courage.” —Elizabeth Cady Stanton
29. “Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.” —Arthur Koestler
30. “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” —
31. “One man with courage is a majority.” —Thomas Jefferson
32. “Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” —George S. Patton
33. “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” —
34. “Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared.” —David Ben-Gurion
35. “It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.” —
36. “Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.” —Charlie Chaplin
37. “From caring comes courage.” —Lao Tzu
38. “If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.” —David Viscott
39. “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” —Steve Jobs
40. “I would define true courage to be a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it.” —William Tecumseh Sherman
41. “Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.” —Thomas Szasz
42. “He is a man of courage who does not run away but remains at his post and fights against the enemy.” —Socrates
43. “Courage is on display every day, and only the courageous wring the most out of life.” —Zig Ziglar
44. “Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use.” —Ruth Gordon
Loving these courage quotes? If so, you’ll also enjoy these life quotes that stand the test of time.
Quotes about bravery
45. “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.” —Amelia Earhart
46. “Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.” —Franklin P. Jones
47. “Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
48. “Physical bravery is an animal instinct; moral bravery is much higher and truer courage.” —Wendell Phillips
49. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” —Mark Twain
50. “The brave man carves out his fortune, and every man is the sum of his own works.” —Miguel de Cervantes
51. “Let bravery be thy choice, but not bravado.” —Menander
52. “Like timidity, bravery is also contagious.” —Premchand
53. “Bravery never goes out of fashion.” —William Makepeace Thackeray
54. “Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” —Indira Gandhi
Step out of your usual routine and let these comfort zone quotes inspire you to push past fear and embrace change.
55. “Brave means that we will try to create something for ourselves. Brave means never going backward when we can go forward. That is the bravery that we need.” —David Wagner
56. “Bravery is believing in yourself, and that thing nobody can teach you.” —El Cordobés
57. “A brave man acknowledges the strength of others.” —Veronica Roth
58. “The future doesn’t belong to the light-hearted. It belongs to the brave.” —Ronald Reagan
59. “God himself favors the brave.” —Ovid
60. “Cowards are cruel, but the brave love mercy and delight to save.” —John Gay
61. “You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” —Stephen King
62. “A brave man is a man who dares to look the devil in the face and tell him he is a devil.” —James A. Garfield
63. “If you want to change things, it requires bravery.” —Naftali Bennett
64. “Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing.” —
65. “Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been.” —Alan Alda
66. “I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.” —Catherine the Great
67. “Bravery is the engine of change.” —Aisha Tyler
68. “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.” —
69. “I’m not funny. What I am is brave.” —Lucille Ball
70. “True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one might be capable of doing before all the world.” —François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld
71. “Dare to be brave today, and trust that when you extend your wings, you will fly.” —Mary E. DeMuth
72. “You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.” —Dolly Parton
73. “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
74. “Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” —
75. “A brave man is clear in his discourse and keeps close to truth.” —Aristotle
Courage quotes about life
76. “Life is not about living the safer option. Life is about living a life worth living.” —Robert Thier
77. “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. Alder
78. “Because no matter what they say, you always have a choice. You just don’t always have the guts to make it.” —Ray N. Kuili
79. “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
80. “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
81. “Everyone has talent. What’s rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.” —Erica Jong
82. “Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” —W. Clement Stone
83. “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
84. “If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.” —Marcus Garvey
85. “Don’t make assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.” —Don Miguel Ruiz
Now that you’ve read these meaningful courage quotes, check out these insightful patience quotes that inspire peaceful persistence.
