106 Bravery Quotes For Courage

In times of uncertainty and challenge, a few impactful words can make all the difference, allowing us to tap into our inner strength and resolve. Bravery, that core element of human spirit, demands recognition and nurturing. Whether you're standing at a crossroads, facing a difficult decision, or simply seeking a boost of confidence, the right quote can serve as a powerful reminder of the courage that lies within you. Here, we've meticulously gathered the top 106 bravery quotes to inspire and embolden you, no matter the journey ahead.

1. “If you are too careful, you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.” - Gertrude Stein

2. “Soyons fermes, purs et fidèles ; au bout de nos peines, il y a la plus grande gloire du monde, celle des hommes qui n'ont pas cédé. [Let us be firm, pure and faithful; at the end of our sorrow, there is the greatest glory of the world, that of the men who did not give in.]” - Charles de Gaulle

3. “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.” - Oprah Winfrey

4. “Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” - Jim Morrison

5. “Yet each man kills the thing he lovesBy each let this be heardSome do it with a bitter lookSome with a flattering wordThe coward does it with a kissThe brave man with a sword” - Oscar Wilde

6. “Feel the fear and do it anyway!” - Susan Jeffers

7. “It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the fight in the dog that wins.” - Arthur G. Lewis

8. “All of us have moments in out lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them. ” - Erma Bombeck

9. “It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.” - Erma Bombeck

10. “The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.” - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

11. “Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They're just braver 5 minutes longer.” - Ronald Reagan

12. “You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you.” - Mary Tyler Moore

13. “Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:- I shall not fear anyone on Earth. - I shall fear only God. - I shall not bear ill will toward anyone. - I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. - I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.” - Mahatma Gandhi

14. “She'd also called me brave...unless she was talking to the catfish.” - Rick Riordan

15. “Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great. ” - Cher

16. “Keep in mind that many people have died for their beliefs; it's actually quite common. The real courage is in living and suffering for what you believe.” - Christopher Paolini

17. “Fearlessness is the first requisite of spirituality. Cowards can never be moral.” - Mahatma Gandhi

18. “Do not all theists insist that there can be no morality, no justice, honesty or fidelity without the belief in a Divine Power? Based upon fear and hope, such morality has always been a vile product, imbued partly with self-righteousness, partly with hypocrisy. As to truth, justice, and fidelity, who have been their brave exponents and daring proclaimers? Nearly always the godless ones: the Atheists; they lived, fought, and died for them. They knew that justice, truth, and fidelity are not conditioned in heaven, but that they are related to and interwoven with the tremendous changes going on in the social and material life of the human race; not fixed and eternal, but fluctuating, even as life itself.” - Emma Goldman

19. “I am not a courageous person by nature. I have simply discovered that, at certain key moments in this life, you must find courage in yourself, in order to move forward and live. It is like a muscle and it must be exercised, first a little, and then more and more. All the really exciting things possible during the course of a lifetime require a little more courage than we currently have. A deep breath and a leap.” - John Patrick Shanley

20. “Don't be afraid of being scared. To be afraid is a sign of common sense. Only complete idiots are not afraid of anything.” - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

21. “Courage is found in unlikely places.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

22. “Today a great shot for freedom was heard. I think it stands a chance of being heard forever. It marls a turning point in the history of the Jewish people. The beginning of the return to a statues of dignity we have not known for two thousand years. Yes, today was the first step back. My battle is done. Now I turn the command over to the soldiers. ” - Leon Uris

23. “Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.” - Thomas Fuller

24. “Bran thought about it. 'Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?''That is the only time a man can be brave,' his father told him.” - George R.R. Martin

25. “The night before brain surgery, I thought about death. I searched out my larger values, and I asked myself, if I was going to die, did I want to do it fighting and clawing or in peaceful surrender? What sort of character did I hope to show? Was I content with myself and what I had done with my life so far? I decided that I was essentially a good person, although I could have been better--but at the same time I understood that the cancer didn't care.I asked myself what I believed. I had never prayed a lot. I hoped hard, I wished hard, but I didn't pray. I had developed a certain distrust of organized religion growing up, but I felt I had the capacity to be a spiritual person, and to hold some fervent beliefs. Quite simply, I believed I had a responsibility to be a good person, and that meant fair, honest, hardworking, and honorable. If I did that, if I was good to my family, true to my friends, if I gave back to my community or to some cause, if I wasn't a liar, a cheat, or a thief, then I believed that should be enough. At the end of the day, if there was indeed some Body or presence standing there to judge me, I hoped I would be judged on whether I had lived a true life, not on whether I believed in a certain book, or whether I'd been baptized. If there was indeed a God at the end of my days, I hoped he didn't say, 'But you were never a Christian, so you're going the other way from heaven.' If so, I was going to reply, 'You know what? You're right. Fine.'I believed, too, in the doctors and the medicine and the surgeries--I believed in that. I believed in them. A person like Dr. Einhorn [his oncologist], that's someone to believe in, I thought, a person with the mind to develop an experimental treatment 20 years ago that now could save my life. I believed in the hard currency of his intelligence and his research.Beyond that, I had no idea where to draw the line between spiritual belief and science. But I knew this much: I believed in belief, for its own shining sake. To believe in the face of utter hopelessness, every article of evidence to the contrary, to ignore apparent catastrophe--what other choice was there? We do it every day, I realized. We are so much stronger than we imagine, and belief is one of the most valiant and long-lived human characteristics. To believe, when all along we humans know that nothing can cure the briefness of this life, that there is no remedy for our basic mortality, that is a form of bravery.To continue believing in yourself, believing in the doctors, believing in the treatment, believing in whatever I chose to believe in, that was the most important thing, I decided. It had to be.Without belief, we would be left with nothing but an overwhelming doom, every single day. And it will beat you. I didn't fully see, until the cancer, how we fight every day against the creeping negatives of the world, how we struggle daily against the slow lapping of cynicism. Dispiritedness and disappointment, these were the real perils of life, not some sudden illness or cataclysmic millennium doomsday. I knew now why people fear cancer: because it is a slow and inevitable death, it is the very definition of cynicism and loss of spirit.So, I believed.” - Lance Armstrong

26. “Scared is what you're feeling. Brave is what you're doing.” - Emma Donoghue

27. “Listen to the people who love you. Believe that they are worth living for even when you don't believe it. Seek out the memories depression takes away and project them into the future. Be brave; be strong; take your pills. Exercise because it's good for you even if every step weighs a thousand pounds. Eat when food itself disgusts you. Reason with yourself when you have lost your reason.” - Andrew Solomon

28. “It seems to me that we can’t explain all the truly awful things in the world like war and murder and brain tumors, and we can’t fix these things, so we look at the frightening things that are closer to us and we magnify them until they burst open. Inside is something that we can manage, something that isn’t as awful as it had a first seemed. It is a relief to discover that although there might be axe murderers and kidnappers in the world, most people seem a lot like us: sometimes afraid and sometimes brave, sometimes cruel and sometimes kind.” - Sharon Creech

29. “Many of the bravest never are known, and get no praise. [But]that does not lessen their beauty...” - Louisa May Alcott

30. “Mr. Montag, you are looking at a coward. I saw the way things were going a long time back. I said nothing. I am one of the innocents who could have spoken up and out when no one would listen to the 'guilty,' but I did not speak and thus became guilty myself.” - Ray Bradbury

31. “I am an ordinary sort of fellow, not braver than other people, but I hate to see a good man downed, and that long knife would not be the end of Scudder if I could play the game in his place.” - John Buchan

32. “Acuerdate de lo que te digo, mi niño. No tengas miedo. Todo lo que te ha pasado te ayudará. Vas a salir adelante.” - Sandra Rodriguez Barron

33. “If I am to be fallen into love, I will. And if as a result I will appear to be stupid, disillusioned, and of poor judgment, I will. And I would be damned if I cared what other people think. For I would rather be thought of as all of these things, than not love. If in loving, I become the naked woman on the horse, I will ride that horse with my head held high. This is my spirit. I am unbreakable.” - C. JoyBell C.

34. “Don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you. They're there to let you know that something is worth it.” - C. JoyBell C.

35. “In case you never get a second chance: don't be afraid!" "And what if you do get a second chance?" "You take it!” - C. JoyBell C.

36. “Bravery is not the absence of fear but the forging ahead despite being afraid” - Robert Liparulo

37. “We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.” - Che Guevara

38. “Emeth came walking forward into the open strip of grass between the bonfire and the Stable. His eyes were shining, his face was solemn, his hand was on his sword-hilt, and he carried his head high. Jill felt like crying when she looked at his face. And Jewel whispered in the King's ear, "By the Lion's Mane, I almost love this young warrior, Calormene though he be. He is worthy of a better god than Tash.” - C.S. Lewis

39. “She was afraid, and the afraid, she realized, sought opportunities for bravery in love.” - Lorrie Moore

40. “Bless God, he went as soldiers,His musket on his breast—Grant God, he charge the bravestOf all the martial blest!Please God, might I behold himIn epauletted white—I should not fear the foe then—I should not fear the fight!” - Emily Dickinson

41. “For those who know the value of and exquisite taste of solitary freedom (for one is only free when alone), the act of leaving is the bravest and most beautiful of all.” - Isabelle Eberhardt

42. “Screw your courage to the sticking place and we will not fail.” - William Shakespeare

43. “You shout because it makes you brave or you want to announce your recklessness.” - Don DeLillo

44. “Die Welt ist voller Torheit, Dumpfheit, Inkonsequenz und Ungerechtigkeit. Es gehört viel Mut dazu, diesen nicht das Feld zu räumen.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

45. “So you were going to rescue the Prince! Why did you pretend to run away? To deceive the Witch?""Not likely! I'm a coward. Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell myself I'm not doing it!” - Diana Wynne Jones

46. “A clown on a throne is still a clown. A king in rags is still a king.” - C. JoyBell C.

47. “If you don't make a few ememies now and then, you're a coward-or worse. Besides, it as worth it to see his reaction. Oh, he was angry!- Angela to Eragon” - Christopher Paolini

48. “Those who can truly be accounted brave are those who best know the meaning of what is sweet in life and what is terrible, and then go out, undeterred, to meet what is to come.” - Pericles

49. “Once," Fran says, settling against the worktable, folding her arms, "I knew this kid who very bravely and bossily came out of the closet when she was only fourteen years old. She told me then that we can't choose who we love. We just love the people we love, no mattter what anyone else might want for us. Wasn't that you?” - Madeleine George

50. “To know a species, look at its fears. To know yourself, look at your fears. Fear in itself is not important, but fear stands there and points you in the direction of things that are important. Don't be afraid of your fears, they're not there to scare you; they're there to let you know that something is worth it.” - C. JoyBell C.

51. “There is no real bravery in getting paid to save someone's life. However, there is a large amount of bravery in a nurse break dancing at the hospital's Christmas party.” - Shannon Alder

52. “But unless we determine to take action,' said the old man querulously, as if struggling against something deeply insouciant in his nature, 'then we shall all be destroyed, we shall all die. Surely we care about that?' 'Not enough to want to get killed over it,' said Ford.” - Douglas Adams

53. “Are there any two words in all of the English language more closely twinned than courage and cowardice? I do not think there is a man alive who will not yearn to possess the former and dread to be accused of the latter. One is held to be the apogee of man's character, the other its nadir. An yet, to me the two sit side by side on the circle of life, removed from each other by the merest degree of arc. (MARCH - Chapter 11 - page 168)” - Geraldine Brooks

54. “Fighting is like champagne. It goes to the heads of cowards as quickly as of heroes. Any fool can be brave on a battlefield when it's be brave or else be killed.” - Margaret Mitchell

55. “You can have regret from yesterday, fear tomorrow, but peace today by sharing your heart’s deepest feelings. A life spent being fearful of showing your soul is a life not worth living.” - Shannon Alder

56. “Hadrian leapt to his feet. Royce was already up.“Don’t bother,” Esrahaddon told them. “She’s dead, and there’s nothing you can do. The monster cannot be harmed by your weapons. It—”The two were out the door.” - Michael J. Sullivan

57. “Today I am someone different. Today I have finally become who I really am.” - C. JoyBell C.

58. “Prophet,' he said, 'Your doctrines I do not know; therefore if I accepted them, I would do it out of fear like a coward and a base man. Are you anxious that your faith be professed by cowards and base people?” - Henryk Sienkiewicz

59. “He looked up at the reddening sky and said with a self-deprecating laugh, "You put me to shame, Seraphina. Your bravery always has.""It's not bravery; it's bullheaded bumbling."He shook his head, staring off into the middle distance. "I know courage when I see it, and when I lack it.” - Rachel Hartman

60. “They tried to believe in their classmates. They must have believed that if we could all get together, then we might end up being saved. We should commend them for that. We couldn't do that.” - Koushun Takami

61. “Of course he was afraid of war. Only fools are not. Anaxantis was no fool. He was fully prepared to fight, but only as a last resort.” - Andrew Ashling

62. “If you're going into a very dark place, then you should take a bright light, and shine it on everything. If you don't want to see, why in God's name would you dare the dark at all?” - Stephen King

63. “A man without fear, is a man I strive to be.” - Geoffrey Brokos

64. “You are well aware that it is not numbers or strength that bring the victories in war. No, it is when one side goes against the enemy with the gods' gift of a stronger morale that their adversaries, as a rule, cannot withstand them. I have noticed this point too, my friends, that in soldiering the people whose one aim is to keep alive usually find a wretched and dishonorable death, while the people who, realizing that death is the common lot of all men, make it their endeavour to die with honour, somehow seem more often to reach old age and to have a happier life when they are alive. These are facts which you too should realize (our situation demands it) and should show that you yourselves are brave men and should call on the rest to do likewise.” - Xenophon

65. “Let's see if your right foot is as fearless as your mouth.” - Doug Solter

66. “I had to stop him from arresting an old lady who let her dog urinate against the fire hydrant that was in front of Burgerville headquarters."You'll blow our cover.""But what if there is a fire?""The fire department will come and put it out," I said."With what?""Water," I said."Not from that hydrant," Monk said. "It's inoperable.""No, it's not," I said. "It can still be used.""There is urine all over it," Monk said. "no fireman would dare touch it, nor would any other human being.""Firefighters run into burning buildings," I said."They aren't going to care about some dog pee on a fire hydrant.""They would if they knew," Monk said. "We should call and warn them. Call Joe right now. He can get the word out faster than we can.""Every fire hydrant in the city has dog pee on it, Mr. Monk. It's how dogs mark their territory. I can guarantee you that every male dog that has passed that hydrant has pissed on it."He looked at me, wide eyed, "No.""It's what dogs do," I said. "The firefighters knows this."Monk swallowed hard. "And they still use the hydrants?""Of course they do.""They are the bravest men on earth," Monk said solemnly.” - Lee Goldberg

67. “Are you going to go down on your knees and beg for your life, old one?" Abbot Mortimer stared calmly into Cluny's savage eye. "I will never bend my knee on my own behalf. However, if I thought I could save the life of one of my friends I would gladly fall down on both knees. But I know you, Cluny, better than you know yourself. There is not a scrap of pity or mercy in your heart, only a burning desire for vengeance. Therefore, I will not kneel to one who is consumed by evil.” - Brian Jacques

68. “I like to call a spade a spade in politics and in everything else. That's why the zionists and the americans...The top officials hate Saddam Hussein.The White House is lying once again. He's a liar.He's the world's number one liar.He said there were chemical weapons in Iraq, and that Iraq is connected with terrorism.Later he declared: 'We didn't find any of this in Iraq.'What I want to say is that he also declared that what Saddam Hussein says is not true...This is defamation of your president of thirty five years.” - Saddam Hussein

69. “You have to be the bravest person in the world to go out every day, being yourself when no one likes who you are.” - Matthew Dicks

70. “If I can't stay where I am, and I can't, then I will put all that I can into the going.” - Jeanette Winterson

71. “Brave men don't belong to any one country. I respect bravery wherever I see it.” - Harry S. Truman

72. “The higher man is distinguished from the lower by his fearlessness and his readiness to challenge misfortune.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

73. “Often people that settle in life are those that only do what they can with what they have and where they are. Never settle for someone that didn't know your worth from the beginning, or build a life without God in it. Live beyond your low expectations.” - Shannon L. Alder

74. “To love someone with all of your heart requires reaching them where they are with the only words they can understand.” - Shannon L. Alder

75. “Lena, listen to me, okay? We don't have much more time here. You are in love. I've never seen anything like this before. You have to be brave, okay? You have to go and tell Kostos how you feel. I swear to God if you don't, you will regret it for the rest of your cowardly life.''What if he doesn't like me back?''That's what I mean about being brave.” - Ann Brashares

76. “She kept walking. The very small, brave part of her brain knew that this would be her one chance. If she turned around, she would lose it.” - Ann Brashares

77. “You can't throw kindling on a fire and deny you kept it burning. And right now, cowardice is that kindling.” - Ilana Waters

78. “After doing this work or the past twelve years and watching scarcity ride roughshod over our families, organizations, and communities, I'd say the one thing we have in common is that we're sick of feeling afraid. we want to dare greatly. We're tired of the national conversation centering on "What should we fear" and "Who should we blame?" We all want to be brave.” - Brené Brown

79. “Genuine bravery occurs when you least expect it, and when, in fact, you're quite oblivious of it.  Sometimes heroism happens when you press on; other times when you let go.  Once in a while, it happens when you do a little dance all your own.” - Gerald Hausman

80. “The world is ruled by cowards and cravens; brave men have put them there.” - Damon Meredith

81. “Being brave is only standing up when you're afraid.” - Jon Steele

82. “He who fights with guns and knives is a coward! For how easy is it to kill with the single pull of a trigger? And how does human flesh stand to a sharpened metal? Even an idiot can kill with a gun and a knife! A man needs no courage at all to stand behind these things that make him feel invincible and bigger than he ever will be! I don't say that no one should fight! Because battles must be fought, and wars will always be won! But let those who fight, fight with bare hands! The measure of true strength! With his hands and feet and nothing but! The country with truly strong men is able to have soldiers that need not a knife, that need no guns! And if you can soar even higher than that; fight with your pens! Let us all write! And see the substance of the man through his philosophies and through his beliefs! And let one philosophy outdo another! Let one belief outlast another! And let this be how we determine the outcome of a war!” - C. JoyBell C.

83. “Bravery and Stupidity are the same thing, the outcome determines your label.” - Hayden Sixx

84. “I know what evil looks like under the surface. No matter how beautiful the exterior, how good the lies, I don’t fool myself, not any more. You carry a terrible burden that no one – not even me – can really understand. But that doesn’t change who you are, Frost. You’re a good person. And I love you.” “I wish…” My voice cracked. “I wish I could believe in that.” Luca brushed the dishevelled strands of hair away from my face again and looked into my eyes. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll keep saying it until you do.” - Zoë Marriott

85. “I was a lot braver when I was eight.” - Claire Cook

86. “Adding kidney beans to his cottage cheese and pineapple was an act of bravery Dave had not intended.” - Theric Jepson

87. “Oh I know it's cliché but yeah they say that great men make it in-To places few others who even do take the risk've ever been” - Criss Jami

88. “Be calm, be brave, it'll be okay.” - Guster

89. “Being brave meant that though you might be frightened, you would face the greatest danger if you knew it was the right thing to do.” - Anne Holm

90. “If it must be done, it's best done bravely.” - Courtney Milan

91. “If the apperance doesn't scare you look out for the mind . If that doesn't nothing will .” - Maria Bernardin

92. “I wanted you to see something about her—I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.” - Harper Lee

93. “I said I was afraid and she told me to think about a time I felt brave and take that feeling into the situation with me. It worked. It helped.”Corinne leaned away from the Plexiglas, horrified.“Of course, since that time, I’ve learned much more about the technique,” her mother said. “I’ve learned to make it much more elegant, but the basics are still the same. Take that old calm, confident feeling with you into the new situation. I used it or a variant of it with clients all the time.” She knit her eyebrows, looking hard at Corinne. “I used it for evil during the kidnapping,” she said. “Now you can use it for good.” - Diane Chamberlain

94. “Emily squared her shoulders and said simply, “I’m fine, I’m not really loving your social skills though. Don’t you know this is no way to start a conversation?” Emily’s mouth clamped shut at the expression on the monsters face.” - Nicole Rae

95. “I think she's brave. I think that nobody has ever believed what she could be capable of. All her life, nobody was listening.” - Lauren DeStefano

96. “My little donkey, if I hadn't shown up, your fate would have been sealed. Love has saved you. Is there anything else that could erase the innate fears of a donkey and send him to rescue you from certain death? No. That is the only one. With a call to arms, I, Ximen Donkey, charged down the ridge and headed straight for the wolf that was tailing my beloved. My hooves kicked up sand and dust as I raced down from my commanding position; no wolf, not even a tiger, could have avoided the spearhead aimed at it. It saw me too late to move out of the way, and I thudded into it, sending it head over heels. Then I turned around and said to my donkey, "Do not fear my dear, I am here!” - Mo Yan

97. “poor boy! I never knew you, Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you” - Walt Whitman

98. “Sometime we don't always get what we want!" shouted Evie, not knowing herself. "That's life!"... The Captain, still looking at her, raised his eyebrows in surprise. He was proud of her for being brave enough to shout at (the villain), but he said softly to her, "Usually men with knives at your friend's neck get what they want, Evelyn.” - Elizabeth Newton

99. “Sometimes, the only way to solve your problems in life, the only way to conquer your fears, is if you face them. If you face your problems, they just flee. But if you flee instead, run away from them, they only get bigger, and they can totally destroy you.” - Elizabeth Newton

100. “There are no brave men and cowardly men in the world, my son. There are only brave men. To be born, to live, to die—that takes courage enough in itself, and more than enough.We are all brave men and we are all afraid, and what the world calls a brave man, he too is brave and afraid like the all rest of us. Only he is brave for five minutes longer.” - Alistair MacLean

101. “Men are not angels,” Akhmar affirmed. “And so men have the chance to be noble, in a way that angels cannot.” - J. Leigh Bralick

102. “Soil, blood, seed- Let me draw strength from you. let it be enough.” - Emily Whitman

103. “Bravery is good when the cause is good.” - Bernhard Schlink

104. “Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage to me!” - Bram Stoker

105. “Be Lion in drawing a Line” - Dr. Zeeshan Ahmed

106. “[Nathan] wasn't blindly obsessed with a possession. He wasn't crazy. He was a hero--a father who'd risked his life to rescue his son.” - Randy Alcorn