Courage is like a muscle that grows stronger with each challenge we face. And the more we struggle, the bigger the courage within us.

Here are the best quotes about courage I collected from various online sources to inspire you, uplift you, and remind you of the incredible courage you possess!

10 Best Quotes About Courage

1. “The secret to happiness is freedom… And the secret to freedom is courage.” — Thucydides

2. “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities… because it is the quality which guarantees all others.” — Winston Churchill

3. “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” ― Maya Angelou

4. “One moment of courage can change your day. One day can change your life. And one life can change the world.” ― Mel Robbins

5. “I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your own dreams.” — Oprah Winfrey

6. “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” — Winston Churchill

7. “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ― Lao Tzu

8. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” ― William Faulkner

9. “Courage isn’t having the strength to go on — it is going on when you don’t have strength.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

10. “The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.” — R. G. Ingersoll

Inspirational Courage Quotes

1. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston S. Churchill

2. “A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.” — Lao Tzu

3. “The only tyrant I accept in this world is the ‘still small voice’ within me. And even though I have to face the prospect of being a minority of one, I humbly believe I have the courage to be in such a hopeless minority.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

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

5. “Courage is the hallmark of spirituality. Courage comes when you love yourself for who you are.” ― Amit Ray

6. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because, without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” — Maya Angelou

7. “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” — Coco Chanel

8. “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

9. “I have a lot of things to prove to myself. One is that I can live my life fearlessly.” — Oprah Winfrey

10. “Have the courage to be who you are, not what people expect you to be.” — David Goggins

11. “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

12. “He who is brave is free.” ― Seneca

13. “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” ― Robert Louis Stevenson

14. “I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love. 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

15. “Courage is what preserves our liberty, safety, life, and our homes and parents, our country and children. Courage comprises all things.” — Plautus

16. “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

17. “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

18. “Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.” ― Ruth Gordon

19. “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ― E.E. Cummings

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

21. “Thy confidence, shall be thy courage.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

See also: 80 Inspirational Confidence Affirmations To Empower You

22. “Courage originally meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” ― Brené Brown

23. “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

24. “True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid…” ― L. Frank Baum

25. “It takes courage to dream big and then to allow nothing to prevent you from realizing that dream.” — Tony DiCicco

26. “Don’t be afraid of your fears. They’re not there to scare you. They’re there to let you know that something is worth it.” — C. JoyBell C.

27. “Sooner or later even the fastest runners have to stand and fight.” ― Stephen King

28. “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

29. “It takes a great deal of courage to stand alone even if you believe in something very strongly.” ― Reginald Rose

30. “Only be you strong, and very courageous, then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” — Joshua 1:7-8

31. “Not the showy kind that you get medals for but a private courage that only you know about.” — Lloyd C. Douglas

32. “Genius is talent set on fire by courage.” — Henry Van Dyke

33. “Dreams are not reality; dreams have the power to create the reality we are dreaming about; all we need is the courage to believe in the power of dreams.” ― Amar Ochani

34. “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

35. “The courage to be yourself in a world constantly trying to shape you is my personal definition of power.” ― Kristin Michelle Elizabeth

36. “The scars you acquire while exercising courage will never make you feel inferior.” ― D. A. Battista

37. “To build your confidence and courage, take small risks where you have a good chance of succeeding.” ― Irene Roth

38. “It takes courage to say things differently: Caution and cowardice dictate the use of the cliché.” ― Kay Boyle, Words That Must Somehow Be Said: Selected Essays, 1927-1984

39. “It is courage and sacrifice that makes a man great.” ― Debasish Mridha

40. “True love is love that causes us pain, that hurts, and yet brings us joy. That is why we must pray to God and ask Him to give us the courage to love.” ― Mother Teresa

See also: 140 Heart Touching True Love Quotes For Your Sweetheart

Wise Quotes About Courage

1. “To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.” — Soren Kierkegaard

2. “There is no one more courageous than the person who speaks with the courage of his convictions.” ― Susan Cain

3. “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

4. “Courage is a learned quality, an acquirable set of skills, a practiced competence.” — Gus Lee

5. “Everyone has talent. What’s rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.” ― Erica Jong

6. “Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.” — Confucius

7. “Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.” — Baltasar Gracian

8. “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

9. “To be courageous, we must be willing to surrender our perfectionism, if only for a moment. If my self-worth is attached to being flawless, why would I ever try to learn anything new? After all, learning requires mistakes.” ― Vironika Tugaleva

10. “The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.” — Jim Hightower

11. “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.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

12. “The question of the fearful person is “who did it?” The question of the courageous person is “did I have a part in it?” The former is something of a witch-hunt. The latter is a hunt for a solution.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

13. “He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch.”― Jean-Luc Godard

14. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not the absence of fear. Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment to say it is brave.” — Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson

15. “Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.” — Clare Boothe Luce

16. “You can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both.” ― Brené Brown

17. “It does not take courage to kill. It takes courage to live.” ― Renee Ahdieh

18. “We must have the courage to let go of the past if we are going to grasp the future.” — David DeNotaris

19. “Courage only counts when you can count.” ― Suzanne Collins

20. “It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.” ― Abraham Lincoln

21. “Without fear, there cannot be courage.” ― Christopher Paolini

22. “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

23. “Some people have the courage to bungee jump or even skydive, yet they lack the courage to work for themselves.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

24. “Courage is the thing. All goes if courage goes.” — Joseph Addison

25. “Real courage is knowing what faces you and knowing how to face it.” — Timothy Dalton

26. “It’s a courageous thing to do something that doesn’t have rules or limits.” — Vanessa Paradis

27. “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” — William G.T. Shedd

28. “Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” — General George S. Patton

29. “Courage is knowing what not to fear.” — Plato

30. “Courage is to feel the daily daggers of relentless steel and keep on living.” — Douglas Malloch

31. “You are under the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from danger, you have no courage. You’re confusing courage with wisdom.” — Noel Langley

32. “Courage and discretion go hand in hand: the courage to dare to be yourself, the discretion not to overdo; the courage to do something unusual, the discretion to temper it.” ― Anne Fogarty

33. “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” — Mark Twain

34. “One man lives out his life beating his fears into submission, while another lives out his life letting his fears beat him into submission. And while the fears are the same, the kind of men that they produce are not.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

35. “It takes tremendous courage, persistence, and perseverance to pursue your ultimate purpose.” ― Debasish Mridha

36. “Trust yourself, make the choice, and take the risk to be true to your heart, It will always work out in the most beautiful of ways, When you leave behind doubt and take the hand of courage.” ― Mimi Novic, Guidebook To Your Heart

37. “Leader is someone whose courage everyone (in the crowd) wears.” ― Vineet Raj Kapoor

38. “Mind you, O braveheart sibling of mine, courage, conscience and compassion, these are the real Trinity of a civilized society.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Let The Poor Be Your God

39. “It takes courage to be yourself, but courage only exists when you fear. Once you are yourself, there is no more fear, no need for courage.” ― Jenna Ware, Shadow Life: Aerospace, Love, and Secrets

40. “Without courage we will simply accumulate a collection of good ideas and regrets.” ― Andy Stanley

Great Quotes About Bravery And Courage

1. “I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflections.” — Thomas Paine

2. “Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.” ― Franklin P. Jones

3. “Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help himself.” ― P. T. Barnum

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

5. “Be brave and take Risks: 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.” ― Roy T. Bennett

6. “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

7. “Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” — Paulo Coelho

8. “Courage and bravery are highly regarded qualities— possibly because it is difficult to be courageous and brave all the time, especially when times are difficult.” — Amanda Elizabeth Barden

9. “Have courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” — Margie Warrell

10. “Be brave to stand for what you believe in even if you stand alone.” — Roy T. Bennett

11. “Courage has always been one of the most prized virtues, and people who would unblushingly admit to their lack of many other qualities are commonly unwilling to be thought cowards.” — Geoffrey Scarre

12. “Live the Life of Your Dreams: Be brave enough to live the life of your dreams according to your vision and purpose instead of the expectations and opinions of others.” — Roy T. Bennett

13. “Acting bravely in small ways when it doesn’t seem to matter so much is what enables you to build your courage for when it does.” — Margie Warrell

14. “Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing.” — Emma Donoghue

15. “Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.” — Roy T. Bennett

16. “But who you become by the courage you’ve shown will always leave you better off. Stronger. Smarter. Braver. Bolder.” — Margie Warrell

17. “It takes courage to take action to achieve your goals especially when others doubt.” ― Catherine Pulsifer

18. “Some temptations are so great it takes great courage to yield to them.” ― Oscar Wilde

19. “When I step out on stage in front of thousands of people, I don’t feel that I’m being brave. It can take much more courage to express true feelings to one person. […] In spite of the risks, the courage to be honest and intimate opens the way to self—discovery. It offers what we all want, the promise of love.” ― Michael Jackson

20. “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

21. “It takes brave thinking to sail to your own periphery, to see your boundaries, and break them through.” ― Talismanist Giebra

22. “Bran thought about it. ‘Can a man still be brave if he’s afraid?’ ‘That is the only time a man can be brave,’ his father told him.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

23. “As you begin to embrace courage, you will be able to point your life in the direction YOU want it to go as opposed to being directed by others or by your fears.” ― S. Fullwood

24. “The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next.” ― Mignon McLaughlin

25. “The bravest thing you can do when you are not brave is to profess courage and act accordingly.” ― Corra May Harris

26. “Time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative, leaders change things.” ― Jesse Jackson

27. “If you are not brave, say you are, then be it.” ― Darnell Lamont Walker

28. “Let us not fear; let the courage of love overcome despair.” ― Debasish Mridha

29. “How brave that our hearts find a way to continue beating even while they’re breaking.” ― Liz Newman, Hope Between Heartbeats

30. “There can be no failure to a man who has not lost his courage, his character, his self respect, or his self—confidence. He is still a King.” ― Orison Swett Marden

31. “Bravery is not the absence of fear, for then I doubt that anyone would be truly brave. Rather, it is passion clothed in determination.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

32. “One man with courage makes a majority.” — Andrew Jackson

33. “We must search for that point in the centre of a problem from which all the pain radiates. We have to be brave enough to pull the simple, biting answer from the depths of our murky consciousness.” ― Donna Goddard, Waldmeer

34. “When you are acting brave, you become every coward’s mirror.” ― Gustavo Razzetti

35. “You must be bold, brave, and courageous and find a way… to get in the way.” — John Lewis

36. “Those who are never afraid can never be brave.” ― Katherine Roberts, The Crystal Mask

37. “We must dare to be great, and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

38. “You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.” — Dolly Parton

39. “Gold is good in its place; but loving, brave, patriotic men are better than gold.” — Abraham Lincoln

40. “Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

Short Positive Quotes On Courage

1. “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.” — Billy Graham

2. “The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life.” — Daniel J Boorstin

3. “Courage is grace under pressure.” ― Ernest Hemingway

4. “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” — Brené Brown

5. “Courage isn’t absence of fear, it is the awareness that something else is important.”― Stephen R. Covey

6. “Courage is simply fear that trusts in God.” ― Shannon L. Alder

See also: 70 Best Trust God Quotes To Boost Your Spiritual Growth

7. “All happiness depends on courage and work.” ― Honoré de Balzac

8. “Courage enlarges, cowardice diminishes resources.” — Christian Nestell Bovee

9. “It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.” — Erma Bombeck

10. “Those who have courage to love should have courage to suffer.” — Anthony Trollope

11. “Courage is the capacity to confront what can be imagined.” — Leo Rosten

12. “If you lack patience, even when you face some small obstacle, you lose courage.” ― Dalai Lama

13. “Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.” — Arthur Koestler

14. “Real courage is being afraid but doing it anyway.” ― Oprah Winfrey

15. “Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life.” — E. M. Forster

16. “From caring comes courage.” — Lao Tzu

17. “Courage is universal. It is needed by each of us in every conceivable circumstance.” ― Gus Lee

18. “It takes courage to step out of one’s comfort zone because it is a challenge to do so.” ― D. M. Neddermeyer

19. “A man of courage is also full of faith.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

20. “True strength is the courage to admit our weaknesses.” ― Simon Sinek

21. “Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.” ― Raymond Lindquist

22. “Part of courage is simple consistency.” — Peggy Nooman

23. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” — Anais Nin

24. “It takes courage to be the author of your life.” — Nicholas Lore

25. “The importance of courage to get back up after you have been brought to your knees.” — Angela Sebaly

26. “Nothing gives us courage more readily than the desire to avoid looking like a damn fool.” ― Dean Koontz

27. “To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.” — Henri Matisse

28. “Courage is found in unlikely places.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

29. “To have courage for whatever comes in life — everything lies in that.” ― Teresa of Avila

30. “Sometimes hearing the truth takes more courage than speaking the truth.” ― Amit Kalantri

31. “Every possibility begins with the courage to imagine.” — Margie Warrell

32. “The greatest courage is the courage to change.” — Nicholas Boxer

33. “Courage isn’t about fearless. It’s taking action even though you’re scared.” — Margie Warrell

34. “Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.” — Ovid

35. “He who has the obeisance for the battle shall have the courage to win, solitary, the war.” ― Yash Thakur

36. “Courage, compassion, and kindness can win any battle in life.” ― Debasish Mridha

37. “Courage is a spiritual style.” ― Talismanist Giebra

38. “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” — Babe Ruth

39. “Loving yourself is courage!” ― Pushpa Rana, Just the Way I Feel

40. “With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.” ― Margaret Mitchell

Be Courageous Motivational Quotes 

1. “Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.” ― Mary Anne Radmacher

2. “Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.” — Karl von Clausewitz

3. “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

4. “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” — Muhammad Ali

5. “I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.” — Catherine the Great

6. “Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.” — Eddie Rickenbacker, World War I hero

7. “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.” ― Steve Jobs

8. “Do not be afraid. Because if you let these fears consume you, you’ll most likely fail even before everything else starts.” ― Veronica Mist

9. “Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister

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

11. “We ought to face our destiny with courage.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

12. “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

13. “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” — Vincent van Gogh

14. “Be the kind of person who dares to face life’s challenges and overcome them rather than dodging them.” ― Roy T. Bennett

15. “Courage is looking fear right in the eye and saying, “Get the hell out of my way, I’ve got things to do.” — Unknown

16. “Courage is being scared to death—but saddling up anyway.” — John Wayne

17. “Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.” — Ray Bradbury

18. “I don’t focus on what I’m up against. I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest.”— Venus Williams

19. “If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.” — David Viscott

20. “Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.” — Helen Keller

21. “Courage is simply the willingness to be afraid and act anyway.” — Robert Anthony

22. “Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow.” — Dan Rather

23. “Use your fear… it can take you to the place where you store your courage.” — Amelia Earhart

24. “Have the courage to act instead of react.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

25. “Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to carry on with dignity in spite of it.” — Scott Turow

26. “Fight hard when you are down; die hard—determine at least to do—and you won’t die at all.” — James H. West

27. “Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.” — Benjamin Franklin

28. “Because the world needs sons and daughters with the courage of their fathers, and you are a courageous man.” ― Beverly Jenkins

29. “Whatever your sex or position, life is a battle in which you are to show your pluck, and woe be to the coward. Whether passed on a bed of sickness or a tented field, it is ever the same fair play and admits no foolish distinction. Despair and postponement are cowardice and defeat. Men were born to succeed, not to fail.” — Henry David Thoreau

30. “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

31. “It’s the way you hold out against odds that are great / That proves what your courage is worth, / It’s the way that you stand to the bruises of fate / That shows up your stature and girth.” — Edgar Albert Guest

32. “The do-somethings will always be judged by the do-nothings… Those who dare are always hated by those who cower.” ― Steve Maraboli

33. “Know your limits, but don’t be afraid to set the bar a little higher each time so that eventually you will be unlimited.” ― Oscar Auliq-Ice

34. “Whatever you are doing in life, do it with courage; or else, don’t ever do it!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

35. “The mark of the true male is courage, but to have courage the man must take heart.” ― Théun Mares

36. “Have the courage to stand by what is right, even if the wrong thing takes you there faster.” ― Thomas Le Hoang

37. “When people change & make you feel small, I’ll tuck you into my pocket & feed you cheese, until courage coaxes the tiger out of your rib cage.” ― Curtis Tyrone Jones

38. “Be bold. Be brave. Don’t thank your lucky stars. The stars can’t hear you.” ― Felix Dennis

39. “The only way to overcome fear is to have courage. Because you’re not going to get rid of fear. It’s not going to go away. But it can overtake you. or you can overtake it.” ― Colette Butler

40. “I have to tell you a secret that will see you through all the trials that life can offer. Have courage and be kind.” — Chris Weitz

See also: 220 Best Proverbs About Success To Give You Inspiration

Bottom Line

I hope you felt inspired by this collection of quotes about courage that celebrate bravery in its many forms.

Stay courageous, and keep believing in the incredible power that resides within you!

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