Moral Courage Quotes

• Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.

  Ronald Reagan

  Courage, War, Patriotic

  First Inaugural Address, delivered 20 January 1981

  90 Copy quote

  Show source

• Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change.

  Robert Kennedy

  Change, Courage, Men

  Robert F. Kennedy's Day of Affirmation Address at the University of Capetown, South Africa, www.mtholyoke.edu. June 6, 1966.

  209 Copy quote

  Show source

• The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.

  Margaret Chase Smith

  Happiness, Courage, Integrity

  NEA Journal: The Journal of the National Education Association‎, Volume 41 (p. 300), 1952.

  75 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Courage, Integrity

  Mark Twain (2013). “Autobiography of Mark Twain”, p.372, Univ of California Press

  75 Copy quote

  Show source

• Moral courage is the highest expression of humanity.

  Ralph Nader

  Expression, Humanity, Moral

  Ralph Nader (2011). “"Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!"”, p.223, Seven Stories Press

  20 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.

  Thucydides

  Inspirational, Life, Positive

  Thucydides, Sir Richard Winn Livingstone (1960). “The History of the Peloponnesian War”, Oxford University Press, USA

  145 Copy quote

  Show source

• Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men

  George S. Patton

  Inspirational, Veterans Day, Military

  44 Copy quote

• Without courage, you cannot practice any other virtue. You have to have courage - courage of different kinds: first, intellectual courage, to sort out different values and make up your mind about which is the one which is right for you to follow. You have to have moral courage to stick up to that - no matter what comes in your way, no matter what the obstacle and the opposition is.

  Indira Gandhi

  Practice, Mind, Intellectual

  257 Copy quote

• Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use.

  Ruth Gordon

  Inspirational, Motivational, Strength

  80 Copy quote

• None of us can hope to get anywhere without character, moral courage and the spiritual strength to accept responsibility.

  Thomas Watson, Jr.

  Being Strong, Hope, Spiritual

  12 Copy quote

• It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

  Albert Einstein

  Courage, Moving, Simple

  "Small is Beautiful". The Radical Humanist, Vol. 37, No. 5, (p. 22), August 1973.

  103 Copy quote

  Show source

• Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

  C. S. Lewis

  Courage, Army, Bravery

  In Cyril Connolly 'The Unquiet Grave' (1944) ch. 31

  59 Copy quote

  Show source

• Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

  Billy Graham

  Motivational, Veterans Day, Memorial Day

  "A Time for Moral Courage". Reader's Digest, July 1964.

  156 Copy quote

  Show source

• Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.

  Dennis Prager

  Courage, Kindness, Honesty

  FaceBook post by Dennis Prager from Sep 07, 2014

  105 Copy quote

  Show source

• Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk.

  Margaret Chase Smith

  Country, Mind, Moral

  NEA Journal: The Journal of the National Education Association‎, Volume 41 (p. 300), 1952.

  40 Copy quote

  Show source

• Moral courage is more a rare commodity than bravery in a battle or great intelligence.

  John F. Kennedy

  Courage, Bravery, Battle

  18 Copy quote

• Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Inspirational, Courage, Men

  Charles Caleb Colton (1824). “Lacon, Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those who Think”, p.92

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, 'I was wrong'.

  Sydney J. Harris

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  Sydney J. Harris (1985). “Pieces of Eight Pa”, Mariner Books

  105 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is a tragedy that we live in a world where physical courage is so common, and moral courage is so rare.

  Claude Monet

  Tragedy, World, Moral

  178 Copy quote
• 

  Do the right thing because it is right.

  Immanuel Kant

  Courage, Honesty, Integrity

  Immanuel Kant (2005). “Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals”, p.39, Broadview Press

  285 Copy quote

  Show source

• Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.

  Spencer Johnson

  Truth, Honesty, Integrity

  115 Copy quote

• When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.

  Audre Lorde

  Inspirational, Strength, Success

  "The Cancer Journals". Book by Audre Lorde, 1980.

  230 Copy quote

  Show source

• Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

  Harper Lee

  Inspirational, Courage, Perseverance

  "To Kill a Mockingbird". Book by Harper Lee, community.sparknotes.com. July 11, 1960.

  47 Copy quote

  Show source

• Have the moral courage to be a light for others to follow.

  Thomas S. Monson

  Light, Moral

  "Examples of Righteousness". Thomas S. Monson’s address at the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, www.lds.org. April 2008.

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular cause . . . True courage and manhood come from the consciousness of the right attitude toward the world, the faith in one's purpose, and the sufficiency of one's own approval as a justification for one's own acts.

  Clarence Darrow

  Peace, Attitude, Men

  Clarence Darrow, S. T. Joshi (2005). “Closing Arguments: Clarence Darrow on Religion, Law, and Society”, p.89, Ohio University Press

  12 Copy quote

  Show source