We all experience fear, even the bravest ones. Yet, each of us dwells an untapped wellspring of courage waiting to be unleashed. Draw upon the inspiration from our collection of courage quotes to help process your fear and fuel your bravery.
This article unfolds the concept of courage and its significance in pursuing our goals, standing up for righteousness, and cultivating authenticity. Packed with empowering insights from authors, activists, and various other sources, this list can be your guide in fostering that crucial courage. Now, take your first step towards self-empowerment!
Quick links to our selection of courage quotes:
Challenges serve as essential stepping stones that promote the growth of courage within us. It's through these trials that we gain strength, learn resilience, and develop a deeper sense of this virtue. Accepting and tackling these hurdles head-on not only hardens our resolve but also broadens our understanding of our capabilities.
In this first section, we present courage quotes highlighting how it is found in the most challenging times.
"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'"
"We don't develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity."
"Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave."
"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."
"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."
"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."
The interplay between courage and fear is a complex dynamic deeply rooted within our human experiences. Fear, often unwelcome, is a basic survival mechanism, while courage steps in and encourages us to face those fears. They are two halves of the same coin.
As you explore these courageous quotes, you'll find reflections of this paradox, reminding us that without fear to challenge us, there would be no courage to uplift us. Continue reflecting on this message through Kelley Kalafatich’s Ted Talk on living with courage.
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear."
"And one has to understand that braveness is not the absence of fear but rather the strength to keep on going forward despite the fear."
"Courage consists not in hazarding without fear, but being resolutely minded in a just cause."
"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."
Bracing for failure can be limiting, yet it's a crucial part of any journey towards success. Every ambition-filled goal sees its share of setbacks, but all are perfectly normal. These roadblocks test our courage, serving as a channel towards our ambitions.
When our drive to succeed thrives, the courage to overcome emerges instinctively. After all, the path to victory isn't a straight line but traverses the winding terrains of trials and tribulations. After reading the courageous quotes below, get more motivation from our quote collection about taking chances and progress.
"In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail."
"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."
"You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore."
"Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen."
"Everyone has talent. What's rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads."
"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?"
As we form our values, it takes immense courage to stand tall with our moral beliefs, most especially in an environment that seems contrastingly different.
Showing compassion when others display unkindness is a testament to one's strength. Moreover, upholding justice firmly, despite surrounding pressure and friction, is a vivid demonstration of bravery. If this sounds familiar, you can surely relate to the following courage quotes below.
"Real courage is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. Doing the unpopular thing because it's what you believe, and the heck with everybody."
"Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts."
"True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason."
"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."
"Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience."
In a society where giving opinions is a norm, standing tall in your own skin is a supreme act of bravery. It is inherent courage that fuels the acceptance of yourself - from your looks to your race, even your past.
To love yourself unconditionally and, more importantly, to unapologetically express your authenticity in the face of critique is a testament to your courage. Let's explore a collection of quotes that beautifully encapsulate this journey of self-love and authenticity.
"A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live."
"It's your life; you don't need someone's permission to live the life you want. Be brave to live from your heart."
"Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life."
"It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity."
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
Indeed, courage forms the backbone of life. It goes beyond facing fears or upholding what's right; it thrives on a growth mindset – the belief in one's capability to adapt and improve. Furthermore, embodying courage also calls for mindfulness or the awareness and acceptance of the present moment.
Reflect on the multifaceted character of this virtue through the courage quotes below.
"Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently."
"Without courage there cannot be truth, and without truth there can be no other virtue."
"The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave."
"He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he that loses his courage loses all."
"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."
"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."
In this section, we look into the lives of activists whose lives exemplify the true manifestation of courage. Courage is not abstract to them; it is a real, tangible force driving their actions.
Mandela, for instance, embodied courage by steadfastly advocating for democracy against the oppressive government. In 1993, the father of Modern South Africa won the Nobel Peace Prize. Explore the brave acts of the other activists after browsing through their courageous quotes below.
"It always seems impossible until it's done."
"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave."
"Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time."
"We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear."
"We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world."
Often, fiction provides us with powerful examples of courage. Think Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. He stands against societal norms, defending a black man falsely accused in a racially biased setting.
Sixty years after the story is published, this character still perfectly portrays how bravery doesn't always roaringly manifest in extraordinary situations. Sometimes, it's the quiet resolve to do what's right despite opposition.
What other piece of literature encapsulates bravery? Read more courage quotes from other authors below.
"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."
"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."
"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare."
"Courage is found in unlikely places."
"Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons."
In the evolving digital world, courage takes on new dimensions. Fear of criticism or judgment can often impede our ability to express ourselves freely and authentically online. Yet, it's crucial to uphold the virtue of courage even in the face of these challenges.
Here are the rest of the quotes about courage encouraging us to communicate with confidence and conviction online.
"You'll never do a whole lot unless you're brave enough to try."
"The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud."
"Fortune and love favor the brave."
"Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway."
"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
"Creativity takes courage."
"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."
"Courage consists, not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing and conquering it."
Isabela is a determined millennial passionate about continuously seeking out ways to make an impact. With a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering with honors, Isabela’s research expertise and interest in artistic works, coupled with a creative mindset, offers readers a fresh take on different environmental, social, and personal development topics.