75 Courage Quotes That Will Inspire You to Face Your Fears (2023)

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 inspirational words to give you the confidence to face the unknown and go for what you want. Luckily, there are plenty ofcourage 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, it can take you to incredible places. Bookmark this courageous list of quotes so you have it handy for the next time you need an inspiring word or two. Then read these strength quotes, hope quotes, andquotes about change for more inspiration and motivation.

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.” —Anaïs Nin

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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.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

19. “With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.” —Margaret Mitchell

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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.” —Napoleon Bonaparte

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

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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.” —Mary Anne Radmacher

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.” —Robert Louis Stevenson

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.” —Erma Bombeck

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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

45. “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.” —Amelia Earhart

Loving these courage quotes? If so, you’ll also enjoy these life quotes that stand the test of time.

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Quotes about bravery

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

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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.” —Emma Donoghue

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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.” —Oprah Winfrey

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.” —Nora Ephron

75. “A brave man is clear in his discourse and keeps close to truth.” —Aristotle.What an inspirational truth quote!

Now that you’ve read these meaningful courage quotes, check out these insightful patience quotes that inspire peaceful persistence.