Ten Inspiring Quotes About Bravery

Bravery is related to overcoming fears, facing challenges, and embarking on unsafe or somewhat risky adventures... Today, we bring you ten inspiring phrases about bravery, along with a small reflection on each one.
Ten Inspiring Quotes About Bravery

Last update: 28 July, 2022

Today, we bring you ten inspiring quotes about bravery, a concept that’s related to courage and the effort to overcome and face fear. So what really is bravery? It’s considered the ‘quality of courage’. Courage is the ability to face something difficult without any fear. However, bravery is the capacity to face the same kinds of situations, despite feeling afraid.

Throughout the history of literature, art, and cinema, mention has often been made of great heroic figures. People who weren’t afraid or, if they were, conquered their fear and achieved great feats.

In psychology, when we talk about bravery, the frame of reference is large. It can mean the ability to face problems, emotions, and situations. Indeed, as we mentioned earlier, bravery isn’t about the ‘absence of fear’, but the conquest of fear.

Inspirational quotes about bravery

In this article, we’ll give you ten quotes about bravery that might inspire you to reflect, write, and investigate more about this particular concept. They come from extremely diverse artists, writers, and authors. We’ll also include a small reflection on each quote.

Man walking towards the sea thinking about bravery.

“It requires bravery to do something no one else around you is doing”. (Amber Heard)

As this phrase reflects, bravery involves doing different things, things that haven’t been tried before. It also involves moving away from the normative, from the socially acceptable, or from what others do.

“It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly”. (Issac Asimov)

Sometimes, to overcome fear, there’s no other option but to face it. Curiously, you have to accept fear and give it space, so that it goes away. This is achieved, above all, with bravery.

“There is a great difference between being fearless and being brave”. (Patrick Rothfuss)

Overcoming fearful situations and facing them has more merit than simply doing things that don’t really affect you much. This is precisely what bravery is. It’s not about not being afraid, but about being able to stand up to your fear.

“To me, bravery is to stand up for what you believe in”. (Sophie Turner)

You can do and achieve many things by being brave. However, without a doubt, one of the most transcendent is defending what you believe in.

“He who is brave is free”. (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)

This quote reflects how bravery can be perfectly related to freedom. It means that, when you face your fears, nothing binds you and you’re able to fly.

“The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear”. (Nelson Mandela)

As we’ve seen in the other quotes about bravery, this concept has nothing to do with the fact of “fearing nothing”, but it concerns the ability to face precisely what you fear.

“You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you”. (Mary Tyler Moore)

Of course, things would be really easy if you only had to be brave in front of things that aren’t really scary, or when everything is going well. Bravery, according to this quote, appears when things get difficult. It gives you the ability to face them.

Woman thinking outdoors

“To believe yourself brave is to be brave; it is the one only essential thing”. (Mark Twain)

This quote is reminiscent of another from Henry Ford.”Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.” Indeed, the power of the mind is undeniable, and to show bravery you must first believe in it.

“A brave man acknowledges the strength of others”. (Veronica Roth)

Veronica Roth, an American writer, speaks about the power of bravery. She also mentions the ability to recognize the same force in others.

“Cowards die many times before their death. The valiant never taste of death but once”. (William Shakespeare)

With this quote, the English playwright and poet may be alluding to how not trying things and not taking risks can be disappointing and slowly ‘kills you’. On the other hand, brave people really live, because they try.

Bravery can be defined as a capacity, an ability, an act of self-improvement, and even a personality trait.  Clearly, without small acts of bravery, it wouldn’t be so easy to move forward in life and become aware of who you are, what you want, and what you feel. Because being brave is also an act of conscience, an act of faith, and a step forward in your own life.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


  • Adolphs, R. (2013). The biology of fear. Current biology23(2), R79-R93.
  • Real Academia Española. (2001). Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (22nd ed.). Madrid, Spain: Author.

This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.