A Quote by Desmond Tutu

All of us experience fear, but when we confront and acknowledge it, we are able to turn it into courage. Being courageous does not mean never being scared; it means acting as you know you must even though you are undeniably afraid.

Desmond Tutu

Quote Topics

Able Acknowledge Acting Afraid Being Being Scared Confront Courage Courageous Does Even Experience Fear Know Mean Means Must Never Scared Though Turn Us

Quote Author

Desmond Tutu
South African - Leader
October 7, 1931 - December 26, 2021

When we love, we are courageous; and courage has nothing to do with being fearless, it's about being willing to experience fear, even dread, to do what we must, without guarantee of outcome.

Vanna Bonta

Courage doesn't mean being free from fear; it means learning to work through fear and speak even when we are afraid.

Joanna Brooks

Many survivors insist they're not courageous: 'If I were courageous I would have stopped the abuse.' 'If I were courageous, I wouldn't be scared'...Most of us have it mixed up. You don't start with courage and then face fear. You become courageous because you face your fear.

Laura Davies

Being scared is normal. My technique for erasing it is facing it. Be afraid and brave. Be nervous and courageous. The first few minutes of being scared is your test to see if you're really serious about reaching a goal. Push through anxiety and come out victorious. Fear is just a test. Honor the feeling. Know it's there. Know it's temporary. Face it to erase it.

Chrisette Michele

Being holy . . . does not mean being perfect but being whole; it does not mean being exceptionally religious or being religious at all; it means being liberated from religiosity and religious pietism of any sort; it does not mean being morally better, it meas being exemplary; it does not mean being godly, but rather being truly human.

William Stringfellow

this is what I know about courage: You don't have to think about courage to have it. You don't have to feel courageous to be courageous. You don't sit down and say you're going to be courageous. At the moment of action, you don't see it as a courageous act. Courage is the most hidden thing from your eye or mind until after it's done. There's some inner something that tells you what's right. You know you have to do it to survive as a human being. You have no choice.

Unita Blackwell

Being scared is really a good thing. It's being scared of being scared that's bad. Being scared of walking through your fear, going to a place of true creativity - that's what an artist is, that's what he does. If you do that, then being inspired by your contemporaries or people from the past is really great.

Lawrence Bender

When we experience our fear, when we say the words "I am scared," we have the choice, the ability to acknowledge that being 'scared' is not who we are. It is not our identity.

Paul Michael Glaser

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. So many look to eradicate fear from their lives, when that is an impossible task. You can certainly experience moments in absence of fear, however accept that fear will be with you whenever you are in the process of living creatively. The challenge is to go ahead regardless, simply notice the feeling and manage being courageous.

Mark Twain

Being brave doesn't mean never being afraid, you know. It means going for it anyway because you know it's the right thing to do.

Aimee Carter

What's holding us back from being free is fear. Whether it be fear of those on the outside who don't understand queer people or any other minority, or the actual minorities themselves being scared. The lack of freedom we experience is all tied to fear.

Violet Chachki

I think to be courageous, you have to be afraid. For me, it feels very courageous when I go skiing because I'm very, very afraid to ski. It's dangerous! I feel very scared. But when I'm acting, I don't feel very scared.

Julianne Moore

So much of Hollywood is this kind of overly machismo, nonsensical view of masculinity, which I just don't find honest. I think it's this idea of - you know, we're told, well, 'Be a man, be a man.' But what does that mean, exactly? Does that mean you can't carry yourself with any fear? That you can't acknowledge that you're scared?

Joe Carnahan

The Bible says to 'fear not,' but this doesn't mean you should never feel scared. It means when you do feel fear, keep going forward and do what you are supposed to do. Or as I like to say, do it afraid.