Quotes About Courage

These quotes about courage focus on proverbs and sayings, with most of them coming from the 19th century or earlier. See page two for a focus on quotations on courage.

Sayings, Proverbs And Phrases

"A bully is always a coward."
-Early 19th century.

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers."
-Mid 20th century American Proverb.

"Courage without conduct is like a ship without ballast."
-Mid 20th century American Proverb.

"Don't cry before you're hurt."
-Mid 16th century saying.

"Faint heart never won fair lady."
-Mid 16th century, meaning those who don't take action won't get what they want. More quotes on action.

"Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway"
-Book title, by Susan Jeffers

"Fortune favors the brave."
-Late 14th century saying, meaning that success is more likely for someone who acts bravely. Sometimes credited in those exact words to Virgil, from Aeneid or as "Fortune assists the bold." Also from Terence Phormio "Fortune assists (helps) the brave."

"None but the brave deserve the fair."
-Late 17th century, from John Dryden, Alexander's Feast [1697]

"You never know what you can do till you try."
-Early 19th century, used as encouragement. In contrast to Yoda, from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back [1980]

"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."

"Grasp the nettle"
Meaning to tackle danger or difficulty with boldness or courage. From Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 [1597] as in "Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety."

Also used here:

"Tender-handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Gasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains.
-Aaron Hill, "Verses Written on a Window in Scotland"

Quotations

"The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion."
-Bible: Proverbs

"Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous."
-Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

"Cowards die many times before their deaths;The valiant never taste of death but once."
-William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar [1599]

"It was the nation and the race dwelling all round the globe that had the lion's heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar."
-Winston Churchill, speech at Westminster Hall, Nov 30, 1954

More quotations on courage

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