Compiled by Darla Turlington

Biblical Sources

Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go…. I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. –Joshua 1:6-7, 9

Rahab: As soon as we heard it [Israelite defeat of kings], our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you. The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below. –Joshua 2:11

And Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous; for thus the Lord will do to all the enemies against whom you fight.” –Joshua 10:25 (similarly, often used to encourage soldiers before battle)

Solomon:  For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. –2 Samuel 7:27

…and who extended to me steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me. –Ezra 7:28

Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord! –Psalm 27:14; 31:24

Each one helps the other,
    saying to one another, “Take courage!” –Isaiah 41:6

On that day, says the Lord, courage shall fail the king and the officials; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded. –Jeremiah 4:9

For these things I weep;
    my eyes flow with tears;
for a comforter is far from me,
    one to revive my courage;
my children are desolate,
    for the enemy has prevailed. –Lamentations 1:16

Can your courage endure, or can your hands remain strong in the days when I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. –Ezekiel 22:14

Again one in human form touched me and strengthened me. He said, “Do not fear, greatly beloved, you are safe. Be strong and courageous!” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”  –Daniel 10:18-19

Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.  –Haggai 2:4-5

I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” –John 16:33

That night the Lord stood near him [Paul] and said, “Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.” –Acts 23:11; 27:22

So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. –Acts 27:25

The believers from there, when they heard of us, came … to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. –Acts 28:15

Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. –I Corinthians 16:13

but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. –I Thessalonians 2:2

But the young man said, “Take courage; the time is near for God to heal you; take courage.”  –Tobit 5:10; similar exhortations in Tobit 7:16, 8:21, 11:11: Judith 11:1,3.

The Israelites then cried out to the Lord their God, for their courage failed, because all their enemies had surrounded them, and there was no way of escape from them. –Judith 7:19

But Uzziah said to them, “Courage, my brothers and sisters! Let us hold out for five days more; by that time the Lord our God will turn his mercy to us again, for he will not forsake us utterly. –Judith 7:30

And if anyone loves righteousness, her labors are virtues; for she teaches self-control and prudence, justice and courage; nothing in life is more profitable for mortals than these. –Wisdom 8:7

 Phinehas son of Eleazar ranks third in glory
    for being zealous in the fear of the Lord,
and standing firm, when the people turned away,
    in the noble courage of his soul;
    and he made atonement for Israel. –Sirach 45:23

Take courage, my children, cry to God, and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy. –Baruch 4:21; similar 4:5,27,30

My children, be courageous and grow strong in the law, for by it you will gain honor. –I Maccabees 2:64

The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Although she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. –II Maccabees 7:20

With these words he filled them with courage and made them ready to die for their laws and their country; then he divided his army into four parts. –II Maccabees 8:21

Encouraged by the words of Judas, so noble and so effective in arousing valor and awaking courage in the souls of the young, they determined not to carry on a campaign but to attack bravely, and to decide the matter by fighting hand to hand with all courage, because the city and the sanctuary and the temple were in danger. –II Maccabees 15:17

If, then, it is evident that reason rules over those emotions that hinder self-control, namely, gluttony and lust, it is also clear that it masters the emotions that hinder one from justice, such as malice, and those that stand in the way of courage, namely anger, fear, and pain. –IV Maccabees 1:3-4

Other Sources

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.–Lucius A. Seneca, 1^st century Roman Statesman

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor. –Aristotle, 4^th century BCE Greek Philosopher

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.–Lao Tzu, 6^th century BCE Chinese Philosopher

Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.–Confucius, 6^th-5^th BCE century Chinese Philosopher

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.–Baltasar Gracian, 17^th century Spanish Philosopher

I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.–Catherine the Great, 18^th century Russian Royalty

One man with courage makes a majority.–Andrew Jackson, 18^th-19^th century American Statesman/President

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.–Soren Kierkegaard, 19^th century Danish Philosopher

The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.–R. G. Ingersoll, 19^th century American Lawyer

We ought to face our destiny with courage.–Friedrich Nietzsche, 19^th century German Philosopher

Courage is found in unlikely places.–J.R.R. Tolkien, 19^th-20^th century English Novelist

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.–Mark Twain, 19^th-20^th American Author 

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.–e. e. cummings, 19^th-20^th century American Poet

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.–C. S. Lewis, 19^th-20^th century Irish Author

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.–Winston Churchill, 19^th-20^th century British Statesman

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.–Winston Churchill, 19^th-20^th century British Statesman

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ 

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.–Nelson Mandela, 19^th-20^th century South African Statesman

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.–General George S. Patton, 19^th-20^th century American Soldier

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and ethical courage so rare.–Mark Twain, 19^th-20^th American Author

The only tyrant I accept in this world is the ‘still small voice’ within me. And even though I have to face the prospect of being a minority of one, I humbly believe I have the courage to be in such a hopeless minority.–Mahatma Gandhi, 19^th-20^th century Indian Leader

To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.–Henri Matisse, 19^th-20^th century French Artist

It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life. I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally non-violent struggle for justice. –Cesar Chavez, 20^th century American Activist

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.–Reinhold Niebuhr, 20th century American Theologian

All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.–Earl Nightingale, 20^th century American entertainer

Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.–Jonas Salk, 20^th century American scientist

A grateful heart is a beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility. It is a foundation for the development of such virtues as prayer, faith, courage, contentment, happiness, love, and well-being.–James E. Faust, 20^th century American Clergyman

Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.–Harry S. Truman, 20^th century American President

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.–Anaïs Nin, 20^th century American Author

You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.–William Faulkner, 20^th century American Writer

Courage is grace under pressure.–Ernest Hemingway, 20^th century American Novelist

Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.–Eddie Rickenbacker, 20^th century American Aviator and World War I Hero

Courage is not limited to the battlefield or the Indianapolis 500 or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody’s looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like standing alone when you’re misunderstood.–Charles Swindoll, 20^th-21^st century American Clergyman

We need a backbone, not a wishbone.–Joyce Meyer, 20^th-21^st century American Author

When I step out on stage in front of thousands of people, I don’t feel that I’m being brave. It can take much more courage to express true feelings to one person. […] In spite of the risks, the courage to be honest and intimate opens the way to self-discovery. It offers what we all want, the promise of love. –Michael Jackson, 20^th-21^st century American Musician

 Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.–Mary Anne Radmacher, 20^th-21^st century American Author

There is no one more courageous than the person who speaks with the courage of his convictions.–Susan Cain, 20^th-21^st century American Write

 Courage originally meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.”–Brené Brown, 20^th-21^st American Author

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 see it through no matter what. – Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird–Harper Lee, 20^th-21^st American Novelist

One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.–Maya Angelou, 20^th-21^st century American Poet

It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.–J.K. Rowling, 20^th-21^st century English Author

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.–Muhammad Ali, 20^th-21^st century American Athlete

Having a superpower has nothing to do with the ability to fly or jump, or superhuman strength. The truest superpowers are the ones we all possess: willpower, integrity, and most importantly, courage.–Jason Reynolds, 20^th-21^st American Author

Sources brainyquote.com, everydaypower.com, goodreads.com