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Quotes about courage

191 quotes from 139 people

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I don’t know what bravery is, sometimes it takes more courage to get up and run than to stay. You either just do it or you don’t. I got so scared the first day in combat I just decided to go along with it.
Audie Murphy1925–1971“Quotation from Audie Murphy: American Soldier”, by Harold Simpson (1999), pp. 369-371
- Fear
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in the House of Commons (4 June 1940)
- Patriotism
- War & Peace
You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in the House of Commons on becoming Prime Minister (13 May 1940)
- Motivation & Goals
- War & Peace
I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for. But, my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Nelson Mandela1918–2013Statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial, Pretoria (20 April 1964)
- Freedom
- Race
I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm.
Elizabeth I of England1533–1603Speech to the Troops at Tilbury (1588)
- Leadership
- Women
Here I stand; I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen!
Martin Luther1483–1546At the Diet of Worms (18 April 1521). The words are in early printed accounts of his reply but not in the record of the session, which has only “God help me, Amen”, so whether he said them is disputed
- Faith
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Robert F. Kennedy1925–1968Day of Affirmation Address, University of Cape Town (6 June 1966)
- Hope
- Justice
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
Steve Jobs1955–2011Commencement address at Stanford University (12 June 2005)
- Advice
Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects.
Elizabeth I of England1533–1603Speech to the Troops at Tilbury (1588)
- Leadership
There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.
Jane Austen1775–1817Pride and Prejudice (1813), Volume II, Chapter VIIIIn context
What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?
Mary Shelley1797–1851Frankenstein (1818), Letter IIIIn context
- Motivation & Goals
“Conscience and cowardice are really the same things, Basil. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all.”
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter IIn context
- Morality
People glorify all sorts of bravery except the bravery they might show on behalf of their nearest neighbors.
George Eliot1819–1880Middlemarch (1871–1872), Book VIII: Sunset and Sunrise, Chapter LXXIIIn context
Delight is to him⁠—a far, far upward, and inward delight⁠—who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
Herman Melville1819–1891Moby-Dick (1851), Chapter IXIn context
- Character
The pitifulest thing out is a mob; that’s what an army is⁠—a mob; they don’t fight with courage that’s born in them, but with courage that’s borrowed from their mass, and from their officers. But a mob without any man at the head of it is beneath pitifulness.
Mark Twain1835–1910Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Chapter XXIIIn context
- War & Peace