Inspirational Quotes on Courage

In the book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes, “Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already….Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”

The same can be said about courage. By behaving as though you’re brave when you’re afraid, you’ll come to actually have the courage necessary to overcome your fear. As Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, wrote in his autobiography, “There were all kinds of things I was afraid of at first, ranging from grizzly bears to ‘mean’ horses and gun-fighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid.”

Here are inspirational quotes about bravery and courage:

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” — 1 Corinthians 16:13 (ESV)

“Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” — Psalm 31:24 (ESV)

“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?” — Psalm 56:3-4 (NLT)

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” — Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.” — C.S. Lewis

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than one’s fear.” — James Neil Hollingworth

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” — Winston Churchill

“Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all the others.” — Winston Churchill

“This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.” — Winston Churchill

“One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.” — Winston Churchill

“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

“It is curious—curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.” — Mark Twain

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” — Mark Twain

“Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.” — Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

“Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.” — Raymond Lindquist

“When we are afraid we ought not to occupy ourselves with endeavoring to prove that there is no danger, but in strengthening ourselves to go on in spite of the danger.” — Mark Rutherford

“A brave arm makes a short sword long enough.” — French proverb

“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” — George S. Patton Jr.

“Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men.” — George S. Patton Jr.

“The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared.” — George S. Patton Jr.

“Pressure makes diamonds” — George S. Patton Jr.

“Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.” — John Wayne

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill

“It is not the critic who counts. … The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly … who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt



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