Quotes about courage page 5
Janette Rallison (1966) American writer
Source: My Fair Godmother
Paulo Coelho book By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Variant: I think that if we look for love courageously, it reveals itself, and we wind up attracting even more love. If one person really wants us, everyone does. But if we’re alone, we become even more alone. Life is strange.
Source: By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Atul Gawande book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Source: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.”
Erich Fromm (1900–1980) German social psychologist and psychoanalyst
“Step follows step,
Hope follows Courage,
Set your face towards danger,
Set your heart on victory.”
Gail Carson Levine The Two Princesses of Bamarre
Source: The Two Princesses of Bamarre
“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”
Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor
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
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
“The gods only go with you if you put yourself in their path. And that takes courage.”
Mary Stewart book The Crystal Cave
Source: The Crystal Cave
Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist
Source: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
“Courage is not the absence of fear but the awareness that something else is more important.”
Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Foreword to Prisoners of our Thoughts : Viktor Frankl's Principles at Work (2004), by Alex Pattakos, p. x
This statement has also been attributed to James Neil Hollingsworth (AKA: Ambrose Redmoon) in an article entitled "No Peaceful Warriors!" for Gnosis Magazine #21, in 1991.
Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
“You can always die. It's living that takes real courage." - Himura Kenshin”
Nobuhiro Watsuki (1970) Japanese manga artist
“People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.”
Emma Goldman (1868–1940) anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches
“It took courage to let things fall apart so beautifully.”
Jeffrey Eugenides book The Marriage Plot
Source: The Marriage Plot
“Without courage all other virtues lose their meaning.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
“Courage is telling our story, not being immune to criticism.”
Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor
Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor
Source: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage.”
Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor
Source: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) American politician and brother of John F. Kennedy
Day of Affirmation Address (1966)
Context: The second danger is that of expediency: of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course, if we must act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done. But if there was one thing that President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feeling of young people around the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspirations, and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs — that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities, no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems. It is not realistic or hardheaded to solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values, although we all know some who claim that it is so. In my judgment, it is thoughtless folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and of belief — forces ultimately more powerful than all of the calculations of our economists or of our generals. Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.
“Courage is fear that has said its prayers.”
Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist
Source: Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
“It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.”
Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid
Source: The Red Pyramid
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
Source: Humboldt From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'
Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist
Variant: 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.
Source: Veronika Decides to Die
“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer
Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird
Variant: Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.
Source: To Kill a Mockingbird
Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…
“The weak in courage is strong in cunning.”
William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 49
Sheldon Vanauken (1914–1996) American journalist
Source: A Severe Mercy: A Story of Faith, Tragedy and Triumph
“Life is not meant to be easy, my child but take courage: it can be delightful.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright
Pt. V; see also the later phrasing of Malcolm Fraser, "life wasn't meant to be easy"
1920s, Back to Methuselah (1921)
Jayne Ann Krentz (1948) American novelist
Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) American children's writer, diarist, and journalist
Letter to children (February 1947) http://www.liwfrontiergirl.com/letter.html <br class="br">Context: The Little House books are stories of long ago. The way we live and your schools are much different now, so many changes have made living and learning easier. But the real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.
Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird
Pt. 1, ch. 11
Atticus Finch
Variant: Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
Source: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Context: 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. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine
Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging
Diana Gabaldon book Drums of Autumn
Variant: You are my courage, as I am your conscience," he whispered. "You are my heart---and I your compassion. We are neither of us whole, alone. Do ye not know that, Sassenach?
Source: Drums of Autumn
“It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.”
Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British comic actor and filmmaker
Variant: Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself
“Failure is not having the courage to try, nothing more an nothing less.”
Robin S. Sharma (1965) Canadian self help writer
Source: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams Reaching Your Destiny
“Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage.”
Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) Mormon leader
George Sand (1804–1876) French novelist and memoirist; pseudonym of Lucile Aurore Dupin
On est heureux par soi-même quand on sait s'y prendre, avoir des goûts simples, un certain courage, une certaine abnégation, l'amour du travail et avant tout une bonne conscience.
Letter to Charles Poney, (16 November 1866), published in Georges Lubin (ed.) Correspondance (Paris: Garnier Freres, 1964-95) vol. 20, p. 188; André Maurois (trans. Gerard Hopkins) Lélia: The Life of George Sand (New York: Harper, 1954) p. 418
Variant: One is happy once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness: simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience.
Source: Correspondance, 1812-1876, Volume 5
“I sit there thinking about how much courage it takes to live an ordinary life.”
Colum McCann book Let the Great World Spin
Source: Let the Great World Spin
“He who whets his steel, whets his courage”
Steven Pressfield Gates of Fire
Source: Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae
L.J. Smith (1965) American author
Source: Witchlight
“Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you.”
Mary Tyler Moore (1936–2017) American actress, television producer
As quoted in The Reader's Digest, Vol. 128 (1986), p. 137; later in Quotable Quotes (1997) by Editors of Reader's Digest
“it is only courage on the path itself that makes the path appear”
Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist