We all face moments that demand courage—whether it’s speaking up, starting over, or simply showing up when things get tough.
In this post, you’ll find 100 powerful courage quotes to inspire strength, boldness, and resilience—especially on the days you need it most.
From timeless wisdom to modern motivation, these quotes come from voices like Maya Angelou, Winston Churchill, Brené Brown, Nelson Mandela, Eleanor Roosevelt, and more.
Let these words remind you:
Courage isn’t the absence of fear—it’s choosing to move forward in spite of it.
Ready to feel bold again? Let’s dive in.
Feeling fear is human. Choosing to keep going anyway—that’s courage.
- “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” — Mark Twain
- “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” — Susan Jeffers
- “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing.” — Emma Donoghue
- “Being brave doesn’t mean you go looking for trouble.” — Mufasa, The Lion King*
- “Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.” — Winston Churchill
- “Do one thing every day that scares you.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
- “It’s okay to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave.” — Mandy Hale
- “Don’t let the fear of what could happen make nothing happen.” — Unknown
- “Courage isn’t about not being afraid. It’s about being afraid and doing it anyway.” — Unknown
- “If you’re afraid to fail, you’ll never succeed.” — Dan Gable
- “There is no illusion greater than fear.” — Lao Tzu
- “Fears are stories we tell ourselves.” — Unknown
- “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Addair
- “Do not be afraid; our fate cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.” — Dante Alighieri
- “To escape fear, you have to go through it, not around it.” — Richie Norton
- “Sometimes fear is just excitement without breath.” — Elizabeth Gilbert
- “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” — Joseph Campbell
- “Fear has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Rise.’ The choice is yours.” — Zig Ziglar
- “Bravery is the solution to regret.” — Robin Sharma
True courage isn’t always loud—it’s often the quiet decision to try something new, even when it’s scary.
21. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” — Anaïs Nin
22. “Leap, and the net will appear.” — John Burroughs
23. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” — T.S. Eliot
24. “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.” — Thomas Jefferson
25. “Great things never came from comfort zones.” — Unknown
26. “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
27. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky
28. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” — John D. Rockefeller
29. “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” — William G.T. Shedd
30. “Step so far outside your comfort zone that you forget how to get back.” — Unknown
31. “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” — Brené Brown
32. “If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.” — Seth Godin
33. “If you wait until you’re ready, you’ll be waiting for the rest of your life.” — Lemony Snicket
34. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” — William Faulkner
35. “Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect.” — Zoey Sayward
36. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” — Oscar Wilde
37. “Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.” — Margaret Shepard
38. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” — Steve Jobs
39. “Progress always involves risk. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” — Frederick B. Wilcox
40. “Take risks: if you win, you’ll be happy; if you lose, you’ll be wise.” — Unknown
41. Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.— Brené Brown
42. Courage is a love affair with the unknown.— Osho
43. I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me. — Erica Jong
44. I have lived my life according to this principle: If I’m afraid of it, then I must do it.— Erica Jong
45. A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
46. Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.— Winston Churchill
47. The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your action will be.— Dalai Lama
48. Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.— Rosa Parks
49. The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.— Charles DuBois
50. Do you have the courage to act outwardly on what you see inwardly.— T.D. Jakes
51. Courage means doing what’s right no matter what they say.— Maxime Lagacé
52. Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.— Winston Churchill
53. Always do the things you fear the most. Courage is an acquired taste, like caviar.— Erica Jong
54. Lean into (not away from) what’s making you uncomfortable.— Shane Parrish
55. Amateurs are scared – scared to be vulnerable and honest with themselves. Professionals feel like they are capable of handling almost anything.— Shane Parrish
56. Will you dare to try and learn and grow? Or will you allow fear to take over? Life happens in the river, not on the shore.— Maxime Lagacé
57. Don’t be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you’ve been wounded and you need a comrade to pull you up? So what?— Marcus Aurelius
58. I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.— Brené Brown
59.Accept in an unruffled spirit that which is inevitable.— Seneca
60. It’s better to cross the line and suffer the consequences than to just stare at the line for the rest of your life.— Paulo Coelho
61. Running away from the immediacy of our experience is like preferring death to life.— Pema Chödrön
62. The only alternative to a shuddering paralysis is to leap into action regardless of the consequences.— Alan Watts
63. 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
64. Having lived the life I’ve lived, and having seen the other side, not being afraid to attack what was in front of me, has made me happy.— David Goggins
65. The singular trait of a leader is courage.— Naval Ravikant
66. I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.— Catherine the Great
67. If you’re not in the arena also getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback.— Brené Brown
68. The hard choices – what we most fear doing, asking, saying – these are very often exactly what we most need to do.— Tim Ferriss
69. Think of yourself as an explorer. You cannot find anything new if you are unwilling to leave the shore.— Robert Greene
70. Understand: we are all too afraid – of offending people, of stirring up conflict, of standing out from the crowd, of taking bold action.— Robert Greene
71. One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.— Maya Angelou
72. The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.— Jim Hightower
73. Don’t avoid something frightening if it stands in your way.— Jordan Peterson
74. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.— Mark Twain
75. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.— Anaïs Nin
76. Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room.— Dwayne Johnson
77. A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.— Mahatma Gandhi
78. Too many men are afraid of being fools.— Henry Ford
79. We ought to face our destiny with courage.— Friedrich Nietzsche
80. No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone.— Friedrich Nietzsche
81. The strangest, most generous, and proudest of all virtues is true courage.— Michel de Montaigne
82. Everyone has talent. What’s rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads. — Erica Jong
83. Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.— Charlie Chaplin
84. Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.— Franklin D. Roosevelt
85. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your own heart and intuition.— Steve Jobs
86. Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.— Fyodor Dostoevsky
87. 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.— Martin Luther King Jr
88. I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.— Nelson Mandela
89. Courage is the commitment to begin without any guarantee of success.— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
90. Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.— John F. Kennedy
91. Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.— John Wayne
92. Freedom lies in bold action.— Robert Frost
93. Courage, dear heart.— C.S. Lewis
94. Choose courage over comfort.— Brené Brown
95. A king is one who fears nothing.— Seneca
96. The scared freeze. The brave try.— Maxime Lagacé
97. Courage is the birthplace of confidence.— Debbie Millman
98. The stronger your principles, the more you’ll fight for them.— Maxime Lagacé
99. Do one thing every day that scares you.— Eleanor Roosevelt
100. Courage is the only virtue you can’t fake.— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
