100+ Courage & Fear Quotes to Inspire Brave Living

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” – Nelson Mandela

“Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.” – Winston Churchill

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

“The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela

“To be afraid is nothing; to confess fear is everything.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

“He who has overcome his fears will never be conquered.” – Pyrrhus

“Fortune favors the bold.” – Virgil

“Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more.” – Swedish Proverb

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Fear is interest paid on a debt you may never owe.” – Anonymous

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

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

“Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion—you fall back to your training.” – Archilochus (attributed)

“I have not yet begun to fight!” – John Paul Jones

“The more I sweat in training, the less I bleed in battle.” – Navy SEAL motto

“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Discipline is the soul of an army.” – George Washington

“Never give up, never surrender.” – General James Mattis

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” – Field Marshal Montgomery

“Success in battle is not a function of how many show up, but who they are and how much they care.” – Jim Collins

“Pain is weakness leaving the body.” – U.S. Marine Corps saying

“The test of a man’s character is what he does with power.” – Plutarch

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.” – Alfred Pennyworth, Batman Begins

“I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die.” – Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean

“There’s no need to fear change, Harry. Your parents lived right here in this house, and so will you—as long as you remember they’re a part of you.” – Dumbledore, Harry Potter

“Fear is the mind-killer.” – Frank Herbert, Dune (spoken by characters)

“You must not be afraid, Frodo. You must trust the grace that is given to you.” – Gandalf, Lord of the Rings

“I’ll see it through. No matter how bad it gets.” – Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games

“Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda, Star Wars

“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.” – District resident, The Hunger Games

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” – King Henry V, Shakespeare

“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Tony Stark, Iron Man

“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” – Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight

“The greatest illusion in this world is the illusion of separation.” – Morpheus, The Matrix

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.” – Maya Angelou

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” – Louisa May Alcott

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women.” – Maya Angelou

“I was born with an enormous need for affection and a terrible need to give it.” – Audrey Hepburn

“Dare to wear your truth.” – Lady Gaga

“A woman is like a tea bag—you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“I am my best work—a series of road maps, reports, recipes, doodles, and prayers to the god of my imagination.” – Toni Morrison

“If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.” – Margaret Thatcher

“We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.” – Malala Yousafzai

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” – Oscar Wilde (often attributed to women, reflects feminine empowerment)

“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” – Audre Lorde

“I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

“I feared failure more than I feared injury.” – Serena Williams

“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden

“Pressure is a privilege.” – Billie Jean King

“The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is by losing.” – Ernie Banks

“I run to prove that I can.” – Eliud Kipchoge

“I’ve failed over and over again—that’s why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

“Champions are made when no one is watching.” – Kobe Bryant

“I didn’t come this far to only come this far.” – Simone Biles

“Excellence is never an accident.” – Pelé

“I wanted to be excellent at whatever I did.” – Muhammad Ali

“He who is not satisfied with a little is satisfied with nothing.” – Epicurus

“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” – Seneca

“Until we have faced our fears, we cannot know the fullness of joy.” – Søren Kierkegaard

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates

“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” – Søren Kierkegaard

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.” – Aristotle

“What concerns me is not the way things are, but the way people think they are.” – Epictetus

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” – Marcus Aurelius

“Fear follows error.” – Seneca

“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

“To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.” – Søren Kierkegaard

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” – Albert Einstein

“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair

“Fear is a liar.” – Joyce Meyer

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Your level of success will rarely exceed your level of personal development.” – Robin Sharma

“The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment.” – Tony Robbins

“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian D. Larson

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent van Gogh (frequently cited by coaches)

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill (popularized by modern speakers)

“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.” – Oprah Winfrey

“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” – Roy T. Bennett

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar

“The biggest danger is not taking any risk. In a world that’s changing quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg (often quoted by coaches)

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls.” – Khalil Gibran

“When they go low, we go high.” – Michelle Obama

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“Surviving was easy, living is harder.” – Jaycee Dugard

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” – Carl Jung

“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.” – Nelson Mandela

“The moment we choose to love, we begin to move against domination, against oppression.” – bell hooks

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.” – Elie Wiesel

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” – Mary Anne Radmacher

“No one puts a candle under a basket. You were born to shine.” – Anita Roddick

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” – Nelson Mandela

“If you’re neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” – Desmond Tutu

“I’m not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” – Woody Allen

“I have complete faith in myself—except when I’m nervous.” – Tina Fey

“They say skydiving builds character—but I’d rather just buy mine.” – Unknown

“I used to be afraid of dying. Now I just want to be there when it happens to someone else.” – Steven Wright

“I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.” – Michael Scott, The Office

“I’m not lazy, I’m just conserving energy for when I need to panic.” – Unknown

“I’m not afraid of flying—I just don’t like crashing.” – Unknown

“My anxiety is so bad, I get nervous during fire drills—in case they’re fake.” – Demetri Martin

“I’m not brave. I’m just better at pretending than you.” – Unknown

“I told my fear to shut up and sat down to write anyway.” – Author’s meme

“Courage is knowing when to delete your browser history.” – Internet quote

“I’m not scared. I’m just extremely aware of all possible dangers.” – Unknown

“Feel the fear and do it anyway.” – Susan Jeffers

“Do it scared.” – Ruth Soukup

“Rise.” – Nicholas Klein

“Still I rise.” – Maya Angelou

“Just start.” – Unknown

“Keep going.” – Anonymous

“Breathe. Believe. Begin.” – Unknown

“Say yes.” – Life coach mantra

“Show up.” – Brené Brown

“Try.” – Children’s book wisdom

“Persist.” – Motivational poster

“Grow through what you go through.” – Unknown