quotations about courage
Courage is freely available to all of us and to any one of us as the sounds of waves crashing, of wind in high trees, of birds singing, of human laughter. Those sounds, too, are always there, but sometimes we don't hear them. Wanting to hear them, readying ourselves to hear them, we need to turn our attention towards them. Courage can be like that. We need to turn our attention towards it, pay it more attention than we do our fears, even when those fears are clamorous, clingy, familiar and demanding.
STEPHANIE DOWRICK
Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love
The difference between a mongrel and a thoroughbred, whether brute or man, is not in swiftness, beauty, or endurance, but in courage.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.
ANAÏS NIN
The Diary of Anaïs Nin
Our hearts must have the courage
To keep on marching on and on
THE ALARM
"Declaration"
Once you have explored a fear, it becomes less terrifying. Part of courage comes from extending our knowledge.
BRIAN HERBERT & KEVEN J. ANDERSON
Dune: House Corrino
You shout because it makes you brave or you want to announce your recklessness.
DON DELILLO
Underworld
There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.
L. FRANK BAUM
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to be, when it suits him, a coward.
EDGAR ALLAN POE
"Marginalia"
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.
MARY ANNE RADMACHER
attributed, Never Take No for an Answer: One Woman, One Life, and The Money Mystique
He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
MUHAMMAD ALI
Woman's Day, Apr. 1, 2009
The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage.
CARRIE JONES
Need
Courage charms us, because it indicates that a man loves an idea better than all things in the world, that he is thinking neither of his bed, nor his dinner, nor his money, but will venture all to put in act the invisible thought of his mind.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
journal entry, 1859
It is easy to be brave at a safe distance.
AESOP
"The Wolf and the Kid,", Aesop's Fables
Courage is a terribly important value. It means you don't run away when things are tough. It means you don't turn away from a friend when he or she is in trouble. It means standing up against the majority opinion.... There's a lot of people who won't wear it on their sleeve, or display it through some heroic act. But courage is having the strength to do what's honorable and decent.
GEORGE H. W. BUSH
Academy of Achievement interview, Jun. 2, 1995
The more keenly we are awake to the perils of life, the higher and grander is the possibility of being truly brave.
HENRY VAN DYKE
"Courage,", Counsels by the Way
The only kind of courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next.
MIGNON MCLAUGHLIN
The Second Neurotic's Notebook
'Tis not too late to-morrow to be brave.
JOHN ARMSTRONG
The Art of Preserving Health
Courage, like cowardice, is undoubtedly contagious, but some persons are not liable to catch it.
ARCHIBALD PRENTICE
Prenticeana
Many people wrongly exclude fear from the definition of courage, believing that courage is the absence of fear. Every time such people feel afraid, they assume that they aren't courageous. The reality, though, is that courage is fearful. When we are acting courageously, we are, most typically, very afraid. But we don't allow the fear we're carrying to stop us. Instead, we press on. This is the signature feature of courage: to carry on despite being fearful. Fear, thus, is an essential element in the definition of courage. You can't be courageous unless you are afraid.
BILL TREASURER
Courage Goes to Work
Any coward can fight a battle when he's sure of winning; but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he's sure of losing.
GEORGE ELIOT
Janet's Repentance