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Courage quotes

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“The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Nelson Mandela, “Long Walk to Freedom” - 1995

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” Nelson Mandela, “Long Walk to Freedom” - 1995

“We can't be brave without fear.” Muhammad Ali, “The Soul of a Butterfly” - 2004

“I mean that courage is a kind of salvation.” Plato, “The Republic”

“No arguments will give courage to the coward.” Aesop, “Aesop's Fables”

“Yes, Dorian, you will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“Love of peace is common among weak, short-sighted, timid, and lazy persons; and on the other hand courage is found among many men of evil temper and bad character. Neither quality shall by itself avail.” Theodore Roosevelt, “Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography” - 1913

“To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.” Confucius, “Analects”

“How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races, the myths about dragons that at the last moment are transformed into princesses? Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us...” Rainer Maria Rilke, “Letters to a Young Poet” - 1929

“You face the biggest challenge of all: to have the courage to seek your dream regardless of what anyone else says or thinks. You are the only person alive who can see your big picture—and even you can’t see it all.” Oprah Winfrey, “What I Know For Sure” - 2014

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” Mark Twain, “Pudd'nhead Wilson” - 1894

“Courage is found in unlikely places” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring” - 1954

“If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.” Neil Gaiman, “The Graveyard Book” - 2008

“Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy!” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring” - 1954

“Go back? . . . No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Hobbit” - 1937

“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, “The Screwtape Letters” - 1942

“We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.” Carl Sagan, “Cosmos” - 1980

“There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark.” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Two Towers” - 1954

“Who could refrain, That had a heart to love, and in that heart Courage to make's love known?” William Shakespeare, “Macbeth” - 1623

“But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail.” William Shakespeare, “Macbeth” - 1623

“In God's name cheerly on, courageous friends, to reap the harvest of perpetual peace by this one bloody trial of sharp war.” William Shakespeare, “Richard III” - 1597

“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, “Pride and Prejudice” - 28 January 1813

“Coward dogs most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten runs far before them.” William Shakespeare, “Henry V” - 1600

“They say cowardice is infectious; but then argument is, on the other hand, a great emboldener; and so when each had said his say, my mother made them a speech.” Robert Louis Stevenson, “Treasure Island” - 1883

“The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.” Winston Churchill, “A History of the English-Speaking Peoples” - 1956

“All through my life I have been tested. My will has been tested, my courage has been tested, my strength has been tested. Now my patience and endurance are being tested.” Muhammad Ali, “The Soul of a Butterfly” - 2004

“Now, don't be angry after you've been afraid.” Rudyard Kipling, “The Jungle Book” - 1894

“Fear no more, says the heart in the body; fear no more.” Virginia Woolf, “Mrs Dalloway” - 1925

“I had always felt that if there were a serious war I wished to be in a position to explain to my children why I did take part in it, and not why I did not take part in it.” Theodore Roosevelt, “Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography” - 1913

“Patience, that blending of moral courage with physical timidity, was now no longer a minor feature in Mrs Angel Clare; and it sustained her.” Thomas Hardy, “Tess of the d'Urbervilles” - 1891

“There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.” L. Frank Baum, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” - 1900

“I shall really be very unhappy unless you give me the sort of courage that makes one forget he is afraid.” L. Frank Baum, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” - 1900

“Of all the train none escaped except Wamba, who showed upon the occasion much more courage than those who pretended to greater sense.” Walter Scott, “Ivanhoe” - 1820

“Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve...” Barack Obama, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 2009

“For e'en the bravest spirits run away When they perceive death pressing on life's heels.” Sophocles, “Antigone” - c. 441 BC

“Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.” Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 1981

“History is made by men and women of vision and courage. Tonight freedom is on the march.” Ronald Reagan, “State of the Union Address” - 4 February 1986

“Valour is stability, not of legs and arms, but of the courage and the soul; it does not lie in the goodness of our horse or our arms but in our own.” Michel de Montaigne, “The Essays of Michel de Montaigne” - 1580

“Things are drawing towards the end now, unless I am mistaken. There is an unpleasant time just in front of you; but keep your heart up!” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Hobbit” - 1937

“Somehow the killing of the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins.” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Hobbit” - 1937

“Suddenly he knew joy and sorrow felted into one fabric. Courage and fear were one thing too.” John Steinbeck, “East of Eden” - 1952

“Work, love, courage and hope, Make me good and help me cope!” Anne Frank, “The Diary of a Young Girl” - 1947

“But where there's hope, there's life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.” Anne Frank, “The Diary of a Young Girl” - 1947

“He thought of the virtues of courage and forbearance, which become flabby when there is nothing to use them on.” John Steinbeck, “East of Eden” - 1952

“In times of difficulty we must not lose sight of our achievements, must see the bright future and must pluck up our courage.” Mao Zedong, “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung” - 1964

“Perhaps she would have liked to confide all these things to someone. But how tell an undefinable uneasiness, variable as the clouds, unstable as the winds? Words failed her—the opportunity, the courage.” Gustave Flaubert, “Madame Bovary” - 1856

“All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days... nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.” John F. Kennedy, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 1961

“Yet each man kills the thing he loves, By each let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword!” Oscar Wilde, “Ballad of Reading Gaol” - 1898

“You have passed through the two hardest tests on the spiritual road: the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what you encounter.” Paulo Coelho, “Veronika Decides to Die” - 1998

“Haven’t you learned anything, not even with the approach of death? Stop thinking all the time that you’re in the way, that you’re bothering the person next to you. If people don’t like it, they can complain. And if they don’t have the...” Paulo Coelho, “Veronika Decides to Die” - 1998

Related topics

fear bravery cowardice love strength freedom life virtue hope heart patience imagination war peace timidity women wisdom death food refraining

Related authors

J. R. R. Tolkien (6)
William Shakespeare (4)
George R. R. Martin (3)
John Steinbeck (3)
Anne Frank (3)
Oscar Wilde (2)
Nelson Mandela (2)
Muhammad Ali (2)
Paulo Coelho (2)
Theodore Roosevelt (2)
L. Frank Baum (2)
Ronald Reagan (2)
Neil Gaiman (2)
Jane Austen (1)
Mark Twain (1)
J. K. Rowling (1)
John Green (1)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1)
Winston Churchill (1)
C. S. Lewis (1)

Related sources

Inaugural Address (3)
The Hobbit (3)
East of Eden (3)
The Diary of a Young Girl (3)
Macbeth (2)
Long Walk to Freedom (2)
The Soul of a Butterfly (2)
Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography (2)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (2)
The Fellowship of the Ring (2)
Veronika Decides to Die (2)
The Graveyard Book (2)
Richard III (1)
Pride and Prejudice (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
Henry V (1)
A Game of Thrones (1)
The Fault in Our Stars (1)
Treasure Island (1)
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1)