Courage – Quotes on Living Exceptional Lives, from Lao Tzu, Pema Chodron, T.S. Eliot and Others

Bravery is not about becoming superheroes – it is about living wisely in the present moment, and learning to let go of the things and feelings that hold us back from living full lives.

Here are some great quotes from past and present philosophers, writers, and spiritual leaders on the qualities of courage we all carry inside.

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. (Lao Tzu)
– Only we can hold ourselves back. Only we can set ourselves free.
 

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.(Andre Gide)
– Adventure may be dangerous, but so can staying in one place forever.
 

Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth. (Pema Chodron)
– It is said that the only mistakes on the road to wisdom are not starting, and not going all the way – keep walking.
 

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. (T. S. Eliot)
– Teachers can show us the path, travelers can tell us how to walk it, but only the individual person can journey on it.
 

It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult. (Seneca)
– How often do we make obstacles larger in our minds than they really are?
 

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. (Eleanor Roosevelt)
– Fear can be a great, liberating, powerful experience when we use it to grow.
 

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. (C. S. Lewis)
– All good deeds in our lives come down to courage – the bravery required to make the right choice even when the right choice is unpopular.
 

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. (Mark Twain)
– Bravery is never a sudden enlightenment or magic power – rather it is the humble effort to keep moving forward in the face of uncertainty.
 

To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals – this alone is worth the struggle. (William Penn)
– What else is life, but an effort to do something worthwhile? Do what challenges you and makes you feel afraid.

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