„Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.“
— T.S. Eliot 20th century English author 1888 - 1965
Preface to Transit of Venus: Poems by Harry Crosby (1931)
Courageous quotes
A collection of quotes on the topic of motivational, courageous, courage, inspirational.
Best courageous quotes
„What is to give light must endure burning.“
— Viktor E. Frankl Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor 1905 - 1997
„Believe you can and you're halfway there.“
— Theodore Roosevelt American politician, 26th president of the United States 1858 - 1919
„If you're going through hell, keep going.“
— Winston S. Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1874 - 1965
True origin unknown. Finest Hour described it as "not verifiable in any of the 50 million published words by and about him" ( Finest Hour, The Journal of Winston Churchill, Number 145, Winter 2009–10, p. 9 https://www.winstonchurchill.org/images/finesthour/vol.01%20no.145.pdf). A similar quotation: "If you're going through hell, don't stop!" is "plausibly attributed" to Oregon self-help author and counselor Douglas Bloch (1990), according to Quote Investigator.
Misattributed
Variant: If you're going through hell, keep going
Source: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/14/keep-going/
„Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.“
— Bruce Lee Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker 1940 - 1973
„Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.“
— Theodore Roosevelt American politician, 26th president of the United States 1858 - 1919
Ch. IX : Outdoors and Indoors, p. 336; the final statement "quoted by Squire Bill Widener" as well as variants of it, are often misattributed to Roosevelt himself.
Variant: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Attributed to Roosevelt in Conquering an Enemy Called Average (1996) by John L. Mason, Nugget # 8 : The Only Place to Start is Where You Are. <!-- The Military Quotation Book, Revised and Expanded: More than 1,200 of the Best Quotations About War, Leadership, Courage, Victory, and Defeat (2002) by James Charlton -->
Variant: Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.
Context: There are many kinds of success in life worth having. It is exceedingly interesting and attractive to be a successful business man, or railroad man, or farmer, or a successful lawyer or doctor; or a writer, or a President, or a ranchman, or the colonel of a fighting regiment, or to kill grizzly bears and lions. But for unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison. It may be true that he travels farthest who travels alone; but the goal thus reached is not worth reaching. And as for a life deliberately devoted to pleasure as an end — why, the greatest happiness is the happiness that comes as a by-product of striving to do what must be done, even though sorrow is met in the doing. There is a bit of homely philosophy, quoted by Squire Bill Widener, of Widener's Valley, Virginia, which sums up one's duty in life: "Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are."
„Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.“
— Mark Twain American author and humorist 1835 - 1910
„It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.“
— E.E. Cummings American poet 1894 - 1962
„Do one thing every day that scares you.“
— Eleanor Roosevelt American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States 1884 - 1962
„You must do the thing you think you cannot do.“
— Eleanor Roosevelt American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States 1884 - 1962
Source: You Learn by Living (1960), p. 29–30
Context: 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 have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
All courageous quotes
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„Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.“
— John Dewey American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer 1859 - 1952
This is a paraphrase of an idea that Dewey expressed using other words in My Pedagogic Creed (1897) and Democracy and Education (1916); it is widely misattributed to Dewey as a quotation.
Cf. James William Norman, A Comparison of Tendencies in Secondary Education in England and the United States (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1922), [//books.google.com/books?id=qrmgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA140 p. 140] (emphasis added): "...there has for years been a strong and growing tendency in the United States under the leadership of Dewey, and more recently of Kilpatrick, to find an educational method correlative of democracy in society with the belief that education is life itself rather than a mere preparation for life, and that practice in democratic living is the best preparation for democracy."
Misattributed
Variant: Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life but is life itself.
— Marie Curie French-Polish physicist and chemist 1867 - 1934
'La vie n’est facile pour aucun de nous. Mais quoi, il faut avoir de la persévérance, et surtout de la confiance en soi. Il faut croire que l’on est doué pour quelque chose, et que, cette chose, il faut l'atteindre coûte que coûte.'
As quoted in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, Part 2, p. 116
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German writer, artist, and politician 1749 - 1832
Attributed to Goethe by popular British novelist Marie Corelli in her essay "The Spirit of Work" as published in The Queen's Christmas carol : an anthology of poems, stories, essays, drawings and music / by British authors, artists and composers in 1905 by The Daily Mail of London.
Attributed to Goethe by William Hutchinson Murray, in his book The Scottish Himalayan Expedition (1951), this has been shown to be a misattribution at "German Myth 12: The Famous 'Goethe' Quotation", Answer.com http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth12.htm and "Popular Quotes: Commitment", Goethe Society of North America http://www.goethesociety.org/pages/quotescom.html
Misattributed
Variant: Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.
„Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.“
— Nora Ephron Film director, author screenwriter 1941 - 2012
Variant: Above all, be the heroine of your own life, not the victim.
„He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life“
— Muhammad Ali African American boxer, philanthropist and activist 1942 - 2016
„The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.“
— Coco Chanel French fashion designer 1883 - 1971
As quoted in Believing in Ourselves (1992) by Armand Eisen, p. 39
„It matters if you don't just give up.“
— Stephen Hawking British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author 1942 - 2018
Attributed in Going Within (1990) http://books.google.com/books?id=buVs1VVUZakC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA303#v=onepage&q&f=false by Shirley MacLaine, p. 303
Attributed
„I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.“
— Anne Frank victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary 1929 - 1945
— Marie Antoinette last Queen of France prior to the French Revolution 1755 - 1793
Responding to the priest who had accompanied her to the foot of the guillotine, who had whispered, "Courage, madame! Now is the time for courage." Quoted in Women of Beauty and Heroism (1859) by Frank B. Goodrich, p. 301.
Variant translations:
Courage! The moment when my ills are going to end is not the moment when courage is going to fail me.
To the juror, Abbé Girard, shortly before her death, quoted in Marie-Antoinette a la Conciergerie (du ler août au 16 octobre 1793) 2nd edition (1864) by M. Émile Campardon
Courage? The moment when my troubles are going to end is not the moment when my courage is going to fail me.
As quoted in Marie Antoinette (2008) by Jane Bingham, p. 39
— Eleanor Roosevelt American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States 1884 - 1962
Source: You Learn by Living (1960), p. 29–30
Context: 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 have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
„If it's not important for you, then it's not important for me.“
— Lucky Gupta Internet celebrity 1998
2021
— Marie Curie French-Polish physicist and chemist 1867 - 1934
As quoted in Our Precarious Habitat (1973) by Melvin A. Benarde, p. v
„Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.“
— John Wayne American film actor 1907 - 1979
„Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.“
— Winston S. Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1874 - 1965
Attributed to Winston Churchill in The Prodigal Project : Book I : Genesis (2003) by Ken Abraham and Daniel Hart, p. 224 and other places, though no source attribution is given. It actually derives from an advertising campaign for Budweiser beer in the late 1930s.
Misattributed
Variant: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Source: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/03/success-final/
„To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.“
— Henri Matisse French artist 1869 - 1954
„There are no have-to's, just choices“
— Eleanor Roosevelt American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States 1884 - 1962
„You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.“
— Oprah Winfrey American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist 1954
„Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.“
— Marie Curie French-Polish physicist and chemist 1867 - 1934
As quoted in Our Precarious Habitat (1973) by Melvin A. Benarde, p. v
Context: 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.
„You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.“
— William Faulkner American writer 1897 - 1962
„True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid…“
— L. Frank Baum, book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Source: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
Context: 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.
„It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else“
— Erma Bombeck When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and coul… 1927 - 1996
— Martin Luther King, Jr. American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement 1929 - 1968
„Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.“
— Aristotle Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy -384 - -321 BC
„A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.“
— William Greenough Thayer Shedd American theologian 1820 - 1894
Attributed without citation in Gary Ninneman, C.I.A.: Church in Atrophy (Xulon Press, 2006), p. 167. This is possibly a confusion with John Augustus Shedd.
— Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
Variant translations:<p>But the palm of courage will surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+2.40.3<p>And they are most rightly reputed valiant, who though they perfectly apprehend both what is dangerous and what is easy, are never the more thereby diverted from adventuring. (translation by Thomas Hobbes http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=771&chapter=90127&layout=html&Itemid=27)<p>
Book II, 2.40-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II
„Where your fear is, there is your task.“
— C.G. Jung Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology 1875 - 1961
„We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.“
— Maya Angelou American author and poet 1928 - 2014
„The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.“
— Robert G. Ingersoll Union United States Army officer 1833 - 1899
Variant: The greatest test of courage is to bear defeat without losing heart.
— Christopher Paolini, book Eragon
Variant: Are you willing to die for what you believe in? The real courage is in living and suffering for what you believe.
Source: Eragon
„All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.“
— Earl Nightingale American motivational speaker 1921 - 1989
„my courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.“
— Jane Austen, book Pride and Prejudice
Source: Pride and Prejudice
— Anne Frank victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary 1929 - 1945
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
— Marianne Williamson American writer 1952
Source: A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"
„The best protection any woman can have… is courage.“
— Elizabeth Cady Stanton Suffragist and Women's Rights activist 1815 - 1902
„The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.“
— Elbert Hubbard American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul 1856 - 1915
The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927)
Variant: The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations
Niemand kann dir die Brücke bauen, auf der gerade du über den Fluß des Lebens schreiten mußt, niemand außer dir allein.
“Schopenhauer as educator,” § 3.1, R. Hollingdale, trans. (1983), p. 129
Untimely Meditations (1876)
„It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog.“
— Mark Twain American author and humorist 1835 - 1910
Anonymous American proverb; since 1998 this has often been attributed to Mark Twain on the internet, but no contemporary evidence of him ever using it has been located.
Variants:
It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the fight in the dog that matters.
"Stub Ends of Thoughts" by Arthur G. Lewis, a collection of sayings, in Book of the Royal Blue Vol. 14, No. 7 (April 1911), cited as the earliest known occurrence in The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, edited by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro, p. 232
It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the fight in the dog that wins.
Anonymous quote in the evening edition of the East Oregonian (20 April 1911)
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight — it's the size of the fight in the dog.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, declaring his particular variant on the proverbial assertion in Remarks at Republican National Committee Breakfast (31 January 1958) http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=11229
Misattributed
„It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.“
— André Gide French novelist and essayist 1869 - 1951
Frequently misattributed to Marilyn Monroe or Kurt Cobain.
Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=xUtdDnEhkMMC&pg=PT12&lpg=PT12#v=onepage&q&f=false
Source: Autumn Leaves, Philosophical eLibrary, 2012, (Feuillets d'automne, 1941, trans. Jeanine Parisier Plottel)
„The scariest moment is always just before you start.“
— Stephen King American author 1947
Variant: The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.
Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
„A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.“
— Mickey Mantle Professional baseball player 1931 - 1995
— Paulo Coelho, book The Devil and Miss Prym
Source: The Devil and Miss Prym [O Demônio e a srta Prym] (2000), p. x; this has also been misquoted as "A moment is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny."
Context: When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.
„One man with courage makes a majority.“
— Andrew Jackson American general and politician, 7th president of the United States 1767 - 1845
However, see also the attributed quote "desperate courage makes One a majority."
Attributed to Jackson by Robert F. Kennedy in his "Foreword" to the "Young Readers Memorial Edition" of John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, and by Ronald Reagan in nominating Robert Bork to the US Supreme Court, this has never been found in Jackson's writings, and there is no record of him having declared it. Somewhat similar statements are known to have been made by others:
A man with God is always in the majority. ~ John Knox
Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one. ~ Henry David Thoreau
One on God's side is a majority ~ Wendell Phillips
Misattributed
— Helen Schucman Clinical Psychologist 1909 - 1981
Jesus' Course in Miracles (2000) by Helen Schucman and William Thetford, Ch. 16 The Forgiveness of Illusions, p. 162
„People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.“
— Hermann Hesse, book Demian
Source: Demian (1919), p. 123
Context: People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest. It was a scandal that a breed of fearless and sinister people ran around freely, so they attached a nickname and a myth to these people to get even with them, to make up for the many times they had felt afraid.
„Courage is a love affair with the unknown.“
— Rajneesh Godman and leader of the Rajneesh movement 1931 - 1990
„There is, in the end, the letting go.“
— Marya Hornbacher, book Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
Source: Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
„With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.“
— Margaret Mitchell American author and journalist 1900 - 1949
— Eleanor Roosevelt American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States 1884 - 1962
„Money lost -- little lost. Honour lost -- much lost. Pluck lost -- all lost.“
Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman
„The greatest of all mistakes is to do nothing because you think you can only do a little.“
— Zig Ziglar American motivational speaker 1926 - 2012
— Charles Bukowski American writer 1920 - 1994
Variant: the courage it took to get out of bed each
morning
to face the same things
over and over
was
enormous.
Source: You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense
„To be or not to be. That's not really a question.“
— Jean-Luc Godard French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic 1930
— Dale Carnegie American writer and lecturer 1888 - 1955
As quoted in The Ring of Truth (2004) by Joseph O'Day
„It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.“
— Abraham Lincoln 16th President of the United States 1809 - 1865
„We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world“
— Helen Keller American author and political activist 1880 - 1968
„Your attitude determines your altitude.“
Zig Ziglar
200 Motivational and inspirational Quotes That Will Inspire Your Success
Variant: Your attitude determines your altitude. - Zig Ziglar
— Henry Rollins American singer-songwriter 1961
Talk is Cheap Volume 1 (1998)
Source: Talk is Cheap: Volume 1
„What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?“
— Vincent Van Gogh Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890) 1853 - 1890
„Do the thing you fear the most and the death of fear is certain.“
— Mark Twain American author and humorist 1835 - 1910
— Martin Luther King, Jr., book Strength to Love
Strength to Love, p. 25
1960s, Strength to Love (1963)
Context: The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.
„Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.“
— Winston S. Churchill Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1874 - 1965
„Courage is being the only only one who knows how terrified you are.“
— Tom Clancy, book Red Rabbit
Source: Red Rabbit
— Harry Truman American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953) 1884 - 1972
Special Message to the Congress: The President's First Economic Report (1947)
Source: https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/4/special-message-congress-presidents-first-economic-report
„It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.“
— Mark Twain American author and humorist 1835 - 1910
Mark Twain in Eruption: Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men and Events (1940) edited by Bernard DeVoto
„Act as if it were impossible to fail.“
— Dorothea Brande American writer and editor 1893 - 1948
„The willingness to show up changes us, It makes us a little braver each time.“
— Brené Brown US writer and professor 1965
Source: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
„The Brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear“
— Cecelia Ahern Irish novelist 1981
Source: How to Fall in Love
— Robertson Davies Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist 1913 - 1995
"Gzowski on FM".
Conversations with Robertson Davies (1989)
— Anaïs Nin writer of novels, short stories, and erotica 1903 - 1977
Source: The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934
„Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.“
— Erich Fromm German social psychologist and psychoanalyst 1900 - 1980
— Eleanor Roosevelt American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States 1884 - 1962
„Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.“
— Brené Brown US writer and professor 1965
Variant: There’s nothing more daring than showing up, putting ourselves out there and letting ourselves be seen.
Source: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
„Nothing gives a fearful man more courage than another's fear.“
— Umberto Eco, book The Name of the Rose
Variant: Nothing gives a fearful man more courage than another's fear.”" -
Source: The Name of the Rose
— John Quincy Adams American politician, 6th president of the United States (in office from 1825 to 1829) 1767 - 1848
In recent years this has often been misquoted as: "Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish".
Oration at Plymouth (1802)
Context: Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. These qualities have ever been displayed in their mightiest perfection, as attendants in the retinue of strong passions.
„To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.“
— Sören Kierkegaard Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism 1813 - 1855
— Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One
Variant: Pride is holding your head up high when everyone around you has theirs bowed. Courage is what makes you do it.
Source: The Power of One