Courage famous quotes
05-15-2025
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Courage is poorly housed that dwells in numbers; the lion never counts the herd that are about him, nor weighs how many flocks he has to scatter.
-- Aaron Hill -
None of the prophets old, So lofty or so bold! No form of danger shakes his dauntless breast; In loneliness sublime He dares confront the time, And speak the truth, and give the world no rest No kingly threat can cowardize his breath, He with majestic step goes forth to meet his death.
-- Abraham Coles -
It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.
-- Abraham Lincoln -
I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it.
-- Abraham Lincoln -
The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone.
-- Albert Camus -
It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs.
-- Albert Einstein -
I believe that whoever tries to think things through honestly will soon recognize how unworthy and even fatal is the traditional bias against Negroes. What can the man of good will do to combat this deeply rooted prejudice? He must have the courage to set an example by words and deed, and must watch lest his children become influenced by racial bias.
-- Albert Einstein -
If you want to achieve a high goal, you're going to have to take some chances.
-- Alberto Salazar -
May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall!
-- Aleister Crowley -
It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people then to dominate them, more 'manhood' to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind.
-- Alex Karras -
A brave man thinks no one his superior who does him an injury, for he has it then in his power to make himself superior to the other by forgiving it.
-- Alexander Pope -
Life is to be entered upon with courage.
-- Alexis de Tocqueville -
It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
-- Alfred Adler -
Every really new idea looks crazy at first.
-- Alfred North Whitehead -
True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason.
-- Alfred North Whitehead -
The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them. When the idea is new, its custodians have fervor, live for it, and if need be, die for it.
-- Alfred North Whitehead -
There has to be this pioneer, the individual who has the courage, the ambition to overcome the obstacles that always develop when one tries to do something worthwhile, especially when it is new and different.
-- Alfred P. Sloan -
To be afraid and to be brave is the best kind of courage of all.
-- Alice Dalgliesh -
There are no brave men and cowardly men in the world, my son. There are only brave men. To be born, to live, to die—that takes courage enough in itself, and more than enough. We are all brave men and we are all afraid, and what the world calls a brave man, he too is brave and afraid like the all rest of us. Only he is brave for five minutes longer.
-- Alistair Maclean -
If the children acquiesce, they may learn to suppress their anger to avoid retribution. But the rage remains inside, often just below the surface.
-- Alvin Rosenfeld -
Coward: One who, in a perilous emergency, thinks with his legs.
-- Ambrose Bierce -
Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace, The soul that knows it not, knows no release, From little things; Knows not the livid loneliness of fear Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear The sound of wings.
-- Amelia Earhart -
Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others.
-- Amelia Earhart -
As for courage and will - we cannot measure how much of each lies within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through trials which may lie ahead.
-- Andre Norton -
The real acid test of courage is to be just your honest self when everybody is trying to be like somebody else....
-- Andrew Jenson -
You can't catch the big fish by skimming the surface.
-- Andy Gilbert -
Our response to an event is more important than the event itself.
-- Angeles Arrien -
Be courageous. It's one of the only places left uncrowded.
-- Anita Roddick -
Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.
-- Ann Landers -
Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high, look it quarely in the eye and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.
-- Ann Landers -
Courage is saying maybe what I'm doing isn't working, maybe I should try something else.
-- Anna Lappe -
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 -
Those who have courage and faith shall never perish in misery
-- Anne Frank -
If there is one door in the castle you have been told not to go through, you must. Otherwise, you'll just be rearranging furniture in rooms you've already been in.
-- Anne Lamott -
It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.
-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh -
Don't wish me happiness - I don't expect to be happy it's gotten beyond that, somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor - I will need them all.
-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh -
It isn't for the moment you are struck that you need courage, but for that long uphill climb back to sanity and faith and security.
-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh -
Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to face many a danger, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle.
-- Annie Besant -
While every refugee's story is different and their anguish personal, they all share a common thread of uncommon courage - the courage not only to survive, but to persevere and rebuild their shattered lives.
-- Antonio Guterres -
As a gay Jewish white South African, I belong to quite a lot of minority groups. You constantly have to question who you are, what you are and whether you have the courage to be who you are.
-- Antony Sher -
It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.
-- Archibald Alexander Hodge -
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.
-- Aristotle -
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.
-- Aristotle -
We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.
-- Aristotle -
The coward calls the brave man rash, the rash man calls him a coward.
-- Aristotle -
Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence.
-- Aristotle -
He is courageous who endures and fears the right thing, for the right motive, in the right way and at the right times.
-- Aristotle -
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.
-- Arthur Ashe -
It is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you.
-- Arthur Conan Doyle -
Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.
-- Arthur Koestler -
If the creator has a purpose in equipping us with a neck, he surely would have meant for us to stick it out.
-- Arthur Koestler -
If we are to survive, we must have ideas, vision, and courage. These things are rarely produced by committees. Everything that matters in our intellectual and moral life begins with an individual confronting his own mind and conscience in a room by himself.
-- Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. -
Personal courage is really a very subordinate virtue-a virtue, indeed, in which we are surpassed by the lower animals; or else you would not hear people say, as brave as a lion.
-- Arthur Schopenhauer -
Never be frightened! Be fearless! There is no room for fear. Fear is death, fear is sin, fear is hell, fear is adharma and fear is disloyalty. All delusions emanate from this evil called fear.
-- Asaram -
My greatest ambition is to have a career without becoming a career woman.
-- Audrey Hepburn -
I always disliked dogs, those protectors of cowards who lack the courage to fight an assailant themselves.
-- August Strindberg -
Few persons have courage enough to appear as good as they really are.
-- Augustus Hare -
You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right.
-- Aung San Suu Kyi -
Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps the more precious thing is the courage acquired through endeavor, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions, courage that could be described as 'grace under pressure'- grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.
-- Aung San Suu Kyi -
There is nothing to compare with the courage of ordinary people whose names are unknown and whose sacrifices pass unnoticed. The courage that dares without recognition, without the protection of media attention, is a courage that humbles and inspires and reaffirms our faith in humanity.
-- Aung San Suu Kyi -
There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.
-- Ayn Rand -
It does not matter that only a few in each generation will grasp and achieve the full reality of man's proper stature-and the rest will betray it. It is those few that move the world and give life its meaning-and it is those few that I have always sought to address. The rest are no concern of mine; it is not me or "The Fountainhead" that they will betray: it is their own souls.
-- Ayn Rand -
What is morality, she asked. Judgement to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, and courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price.
-- Ayn Rand -
History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.
-- B. C. Forbes -
He who has faith has... an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well - even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly.
-- B. C. Forbes -
I will never forget that the only reason I'm standing here today is because somebody, somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. Stood up when it was hard. Stood up when it wasn't popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world.
-- Barack Obama -
Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you. Pain is inevitable. Misery is optional. Physical pain is a fact that comes with living, just as illness or financial woes or broken relationships are facts. But misery is a state of mind, a reaction to the facts, that can be controlled or altered by an act of will....
-- Barbara -
No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning.
-- Barbara De Angelis -
[To the House of Representatives before casting the only vote against allowing George W. Bush to use 'all necesary and appropriate force' in response to 9/11:] We must be careful not to embark on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target. We cannot repeat past mistakes.
-- Barbara Lee -
Imaginary obstacles are insurmountable. Real ones aren't. But you can't tell the difference when you have no real information. Fear can create even more imaginary obstacles than ignorance can. That's why the smallest step away from speculation and into reality can be an amazing relief...The Reality Solution means: Do it before you're ready.
-- Barbara Sher -
Never create by law what can be accomplished by morality.
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
There is little faith involved in setting out on a journey where the destination is certain and every step in between has been mapped in detail. Bravery, trust, is about leaving camp in the dark, when we do not know the route ahead and cannot be certain we will ever return.
-- Bear Grylls -
Fear to do base, unworthy things is valor; if they be one to us, to suffer them is valor too.
-- Ben Jonson -
One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - unintentionally - was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity. We had a bit of a rollercoaster life with some really challenging financial periods. He was always unshaken, completely tranquil, the same ebullient, laughing, jovial man.
-- Ben Okri -
The forces of moderation and democracy must, and will, prevail against extremism and dictatorship. I will not be intimidated...Despite threats of death, I will not acquiesce to tyranny, but rather lead the fight against it.
-- Benazir Bhutto -
There are a group of people who would like to silence everybody and have everybody go along to get along, but that's not going to be very helpful for us in the long run, in terms of solving our problems. And somebody has to be courageous enough to actually stand up to, you know, the bullies.
-- Benjamin Carson -
How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.
-- Benjamin Franklin -
As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.
-- Benjamin Franklin -
The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them.
-- Bernard Baruch -
Love and peace of mind do protect us. They allow us to overcome the problems that life hands us. They teach us to survive... to live now... to have the courage to confront each day.
-- Bernie Siegel -
Take courage, man, be brave and drive ahead, start where you stand.
-- Berton Braley -
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth - more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid ... Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
-- Bertrand Russell -
A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men.
-- Bertrand Russell -
Many a man will have the courage to die gallantly, but will not have the courage to say, or even to think, that the cause for which he is asked to die is an unworthy one.
-- Bertrand Russell -
Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That's what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.
-- Bethany Hamilton -
The key to life is accepting challenges. Once someone stops doing this, he's dead.
-- Bette Davis -
In spite of the six thousand manuals on child raising in the bookstores, child raising is still a dark continent and no one really knows anything. You just need a lot of love and luck - and, of course, courage.
-- Bill Cosby -
To a coward, courage always looks like stupidity.
-- Bill Maher -
Believers, look up - take courage. The angels are nearer than you think.
-- Billy Graham -
I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.
-- Bob Dylan -
It often requires more courage to suffer in silence than to rebel, more courage not to strike back than to retaliate, more courage to be silent than to speak.
-- Booker T. Washington -
I find fault with my children because I like them and I want them to go places - uprightness and strength and courage and civil respect and anything that affects the probabilities of failure on the part of those that are closest to me, that concerns me - I find fault.
-- Branch Rickey -
Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness.
-- Brené Brown -
Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.
-- Brené Brown
