28 Great Book Quotes on Courage

Joe Tye, Founder and CEOValues Coach Inc.

“To be courageous... requires no

exceptional qualifications, no

magic formula, no special

combination of time, place and

circumstance. It is an

opportunity that sooner or later

is presented to us all.”

“Fear is greatest when

things are going badly. And

this is just the time when

courage is most needed.”

“One of the most frightening

aspects of commitment is the

specter of success... Because

unconditional commitment to

one’s work is powerful, it is also

terrifying –

so terrifying that many of

us screen it out of our

awareness at all costs.”

“Be brave. Even if

you’re not, pretend to

be. No one can tell the

difference.”

“Often the bravest warriors

were originally the greatest

cowards. The more fear you

confront and conquer the

greater courage you will

possess.”

“He who has conquered doubt

and fear has conquered failure.

His every thought is allied with

power, and all difficulties are

bravely met and wisely

overcome...

Thought allied fearlessly

to purpose becomes creative

force.”

“People who think they fear failure

have got it wrong. They really fear

success. If you truly feared failure,

you’d be very successful. People

who truly fear anything stay as far

away from it as possible.”

“Courage gives

consolation, patience, and

experience, and becomes

indistinguishable from faith

and hope.”

“Just as fire transforms the energy of a dead tree into warmth, light, and protection, so our fears ignite us. They create energy that can prepare us for danger before it arrives, stimulate us to take action, and keep us moving when we are exhausted.”

“Fear! A terrible enemy –

treacherous and difficult to

overcome. It remains concealed at

every turn of the way, prowling,

waiting. And if the man, terrified

in its presence, runs away, his

enemy will have put an

end to his quest.”

“Give fear a name and it becomes

just a problem. It's easier to solve

problems than it is to conquer

nameless fear..”

“Always use the proper

name for things. Fear of a

name increases fear of the

thing itself.”

“We had better learn to doubt our

inflated fears before they destroy

us. Valid fears have their place;

they cue us to danger. False and

overdrawn fears only cause

hardship. Even concerns about real

dangers,

when blown out of proportion,

do demonstrable harm.”

“Anxiety is the call to adventure,

a hero’s journey into the dark

forest. The secret of anxiety is

that it is the hidden path to inner

peace. Rightly used, it can lead us

where we have always longed to

go.”

“No important undertaking

was ever yet carried out

without the Commander

having to subdue new doubts

in himself at the time of

commencing the execution of

his work.”

“The wise man in the storm prays

to God, not for safety from danger,

but for deliverance from fear. It is

the storm within which endangers

him, not the storm without.”

“It is one of the great jokes

of existence. When people

take the courage to journey

into the center of their fear,

they find – nothing. It was

only many layers of fear,

being afraid

of itself.”

“The more important a call or

action is to our soul’s evolution,

the more Resistance we will feel

toward pursuing it… The more

scared

we are of a work or calling,

the more sure we can be

that we have to do it.”

“Courage is a moral quality; it

is not a chance gift of nature

like an aptitude for games. It is

a cold choice between two

alternatives, the fixed resolve

not to quit; an act of

renunciation which

must be made not once but

many times by the power

of will.”

“The worst, most damaging

learning disability – also by far

the most common, affecting 100

percent of the population at one

time or another – is fear. Simple

fear.

Fear of failing. Fear of looking

stupid. Fear of being

ridiculed or rejected.”

“When we begin to examine

ourselves, we feel most insecure. It

is then that we most look for

approval. Finding none, many

abandon the quest. This is the time

for courage and perseverance.”

“Courage is… the willingness to

differentiate, to move from the

protecting realms of parental

dependence to new levels of

freedom and integration... The

opposite of courage is not

cowardice:

[it is] automaton conformity.”

“Courage is not something that

you already have that makes you

brave when the tough times start.

Courage is what you earn when

you’ve been through the tough

times and

you discover they aren’t

so tough after all.”

“Every time we prevail – if

even for a moment – over

anxiety, fear of failure,

feelings of vulnerability and

inferiority,

we are not left even. We are

not as we were; we are

ahead. With each obstacle we

conquer, we grow larger.”

“What courageous people feel is

fear… In fact, it is what all of us

feel in a hundred little ways

every day of our lives. We feel

frightened and demonstrate

courage.”

“Once you know in your heart that

Real inventiveness, creativity and

even love are impossible without

the lessons we learn from failure,

you feel more courageous about

making

an effort.”

“It is perfectly OK to feel fear. It

is never OK to give in to the fear:

to do what the fear is telling you

to do. On the field of battle, and in

your office as [well], this is the

essence of heroism.”

“We complain to get sympathy,

attention, and to avoid stepping

up to something we’re afraid of

doing.”

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