90 Coward Quotes to Make You Feel Brave

These coward quotes about running away will make you want to stay and fight.

During scary or uncertain times, it may feel difficult to act courageously.

This collection of coward quotes will inspire you to act like a hero.

There are lots of ways that you can show up and be brave every day.

Read these quotes about cowards in relationships, in the workforce, in battle, and in day to day life.

These insightful words and famous sayings will give you a fresh perspective on what it means to be brave.

Cowardice is a negative trait for somebody to have.

The most successful leaders in the world are known for their courage, ambition, and strength.

On the other hand, there are many quotes about cowards and lying or running away.

To be a hero, you need to live your life with honor.

If you need motivation to face your fears, read this list of coward quotes.

Don’t forget to also check out these courage quotes about life, strength and facing fear.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

Our inspirational quotes category page has all of our motivational quotes for all the different areas of life.

Coward quotes to make you feel brave

1. “The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways.” – Gene Hackman

2. “’Brave’ is very specific and extremely personal. It can’t be judged by people on the outside. Just can’t. Sometimes brave means letting everyone else think you’re a coward. Sometimes brave is letting everyone else down but yourself.” – Glennon Doyle Melton

3. “A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.” – Mahatma Gandhi

4. “None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.” – Bertrand Russell

5. “Only the brave know how to forgive… a coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.” – Laurence Sterne

6. “I’m not the type of person to give up just because something gets rough. That’s a coward. That’s not me.” – Kevin Garnett

7. “You cannot be a hero without being a coward.” – George Bernard Shaw

8. “Luck is everything… My good luck in life was to be a really frightened person. I’m fortunate to be a coward, to have a low threshold of fear, because a hero couldn’t make a good suspense film.” – Alfred Hitchcock

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of good luck quotes for when you are feeling ill-fated.

9. “It is better to be the widow of a hero than the wife of a coward.” – Dolores Ibarruri

10. “Some people are cowards… I think by and large a third of people are villains, a third are cowards, and a third are heroes. Now, a villain and a coward can choose to be a hero, but they’ve got to make that choice.” – Tom Hanks

Coward quotes for when you feel scared or nervous

11. “I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.” – Che Guevara

12. “That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to be, when it suits him, a coward.” – Edgar Allan Poe

13. “The coward only threatens when he is safe.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

14. “If you leave without a fight, you will get the name of a coward.” – Rajinikanth

15. “He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.” – Albert Camus

16. “Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood.” – George S. Patton

17. “A coward is not someone who goes right to your face and tells you exactly how it is. A coward is someone who walks away.” – The Miz

18. “All trembling, I reached the Falls of Niagara, and oh, what a scene! My blood shudders still, although I am not a coward, at the grandeur of the Creator’s power; and I gazed motionless on this new display of the irresistible force of one of His elements.” – John James Audubon

19. “Coward: One who, in a perilous emergency, thinks with his legs.” – Ambrose Bierce

20. “It is a law of human nature that in victory even the coward may boast of his prowess, while defeat injures the reputation even of the brave.” – Sallust

Coward quotes that will make you want to stand up and fight

21. “Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse.” – Oliver Goldsmith

22. “Despair gives courage to a coward.” – Thomas Fuller

23. “Even if you’ve been a coward all your life, death is a heroic act.” – Abi Morgan

24. “It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.” – Voltaire

25. “Courage and conviction are powerful weapons against an enemy who depends only on fists or guns. Animals know when you are afraid; a coward knows when you are not.” – David Seabury

26. “I’m a hero with coward’s legs.” – Spike Milligan

27. “The coward sneaks to death; the brave live on.” – George Sewell

28. “I guess I wanted to show people, among other things, that you don’t have to be a hero to get through cancer. You can be a craven coward and get through. You have to stay on your medication and take your treatments, that’s all.” – Harvey Pekar

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of fighting cancer quotes about the battle of a lifetime.

29. “To be called a coward, I don’t think that’s fair.” – Rodney Alexander

30. “A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.” – Thomas Jefferson

Coward quotes that will inspire you to act like a hero

31. “I’d like to see one person – just one – who would own up to having been a coward.” – Edith Piaf

32. “It is the coward who fawns upon those above him. It is the coward who is insolent whenever he dares be so.” – Junius

33. “The man who gets drunk in peacetime is a coward. The man who gets drunk in wartime goes on being a coward.” – Jose Bergamin

34. “I am a coward, basically, but one of the things about acting is that you are always putting yourself through yet another test.” – Samuel West

35. “The coward’s weapon, poison.” – John Fletcher

36. “I run; I am a coward at heart. I swear, when I smell violence or aggression the coward comes out in me. I have no desire to fight anybody except myself.” – Rutger Hauer

37. “Of what value is a mind when placed in the brain of a coward? If the mind is a gift of God to man for his use, let him use it. A mind is not in use when doing no good.” – Andrew Taylor Still

38. “I’m a charming coward; I fight with words.” – Carl Reiner

39. “Since cowardice must occur at a time and place where an enemy either has already appeared or may yet turn up, servicemen in peacetime – and ordinary civilians – can breathe a sigh of relief. If you are yellow-bellied back home, you’re not technically a coward.” – Charles Duhigg

40. “I guess you could say I’m cautious, or a coward.” – Namie Amuro

Other coward quotes and sayings

41. “If you are strong, and you are fighting the weak for any period of time, you are going to become weak yourself. If you behave like a coward, then you are going to become cowardly – it’s only a question of time.” – Martin Van Creveld

42. “You write in songs what you’re too scared to write in real life, and then you sing the songs to loads of people instead of telling it to the person you should be telling it to… Songs are a great way of dealing with those issues but kind of a coward’s way as well.” – Winston Marshall

43. “I was never a weapons person, you’re a coward if you have to walk with a weapon, be a man and fight.” – Anthony Yarde

44. “I am actually a terrible coward. Fear is a constant fact of my life.” – Trevor McDonald

45. “The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.” – Umberto Eco

46. “If I’m scared and I’m a coward, why do you guys want to see me fight?” – Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

47. “A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.” – Mickey Mantle

48. “A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.” – John Calvin

49. “A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward.” – Jean Paul

50. “Courage is the fear of being thought a coward.” – Horace Smith

Need more inspiration to feel brave? Check out our list of hero quotes.

Coward quotes to help spark courage in you

51. “A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

52. “In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.” ― Charles Dickens

53. “Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated.” ― George Bernard Shaw

54. “Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.” ― Ayaan Hirsi Ali

55. “Cowards make the best torturers. Cowards understand fear and they can use it.” ― Mark Lawrence

56. “The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.” ― William Francis Butler

57. “Haters and bullies are always cowards, you know. They like to pick on little guys.” ― Scylar Tyberius

58. “Fear of ridicule begets the worst cowardice.” ― André Gide

59. “We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear.” ― Veronica Roth

60. “Cowardice rightly understood begins with selfishness and ends with shame.” ― José Rizal

Coward quotes for when you’re feeling fearful

61. “He was just a coward and that was the worst luck any man could have.” ― Ernest Hemingway

62. “Perhaps he is a fool or a coward but almost everybody is one or the other and most people are both.” ― James Baldwin

63. “Cowards dare others to do what they themselves do not dare to do.” ― Ana Monnar

64. “None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.” ― Ferdinand Foch

65. “What a man dares to do, he should dare to confess- unless he is a coward.” ― Rafael Sabatini

66. “To be cruel is to be coward.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

67. “These exhortations to keep safe have made people cowards.” ― Ravish Kumar

68. “The coward demands to be what they are not because they fear embracing who they truly are.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough

69. “All progress begins with the brave, not the spineless coward.” ― Abhijit Naskar

70. “A coward is brave only when armed with power and authority; a truly courageous one can fight even when unarmed” ― Mahua Moitra

Coward Quotes To Bring Out Your Brave Self

71. “Better it was not to live than to live like a coward.” ― Walter Raleigh

72. “I made some mistakes, but I wasn’t a coward. I lived my life and did what I had to do.” ― Paulo Coelho

73. “You have to keep your vision clear, cause only a coward lives in fear.” ― Nas

74. “Blame is the coward’s way out.” ― Elvin Hayes

75. “Compared to the coward that never made the attempt, he is a hero.” ― Swami Vivekananda

76. “You are a coward when you even seem to have backed down from a thing you openly set out to do.” ― Mark Twain

77. “Those who live in the past are cowards and losers.” ― Mike Ditka

78. “Heroes and cowards feel exactly the same fear. Heroes just react to it differently.” ― Cus D’Amato

79. “Courage is the goal of cowards.” ― Alan Watts

80. “Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. Moderation is for cowards.” ― Marcus Luttrell

Coward Quotes to Confront Fear

81. “My advice to you, if you should ever be in a hold up, is to line up with the cowards and save your bravery for an occasion when it may be of some benefit to you.” ― O. Henry

82. “Everybody has fear. The difference is that the coward does not control fear and the brave… gets over it.” ― Rickson Gracie

83. “A sober man may become a drunkard through being a coward. A brave man may become a coward through being a drunkard.” ― Gilbert K. Chesterton

84. “The fear of God makes a hero; the fear of man makes a coward.” ― Alvin C. York

85. “Humans are cowards in the face of happiness. It takes courage to hold on to happiness.” ― Novala Takemoto

86. “Cowardice is incompatible with divine wisdom.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

87. You’ve got to keep yourself in prime physical condition, because fatigue makes cowards of us all.” ― Vince Lombardi

88. “Being afraid you’ll look like a coward is the worst reason for doing anything.” ― John Irving

89. “Whatever will happen will happen. You either face it as a coward or you face it as a hero.” ― O.R. Melling

90. “Victories and defeats form part of everyone’s life – everyone, that is, except cowards, as you call them, because they never lose or win.” ― Paulo Coelho

What are your favorite cowardice quotes that inspire you to be brave?

Everyone wants to be remembered as being brave or courageous.

Cowardice is not admirable and is not something you want to be associated with your legacy.

Feeling afraid is normal and natural, but it’s important to do what’s right and act courageously in the face of fear.

Read these coward quotes for inspiration the next time you feel scared or nervous.

Sometimes, our fear gets the best of us and it encourages us to run away and hide.

Was there ever a time in your life that you acted like a coward?

Everyone has done something cowardly at one point in their lives.

At the end of the day though, our courage defines us.

Share these coward quotes with the bravest people you know to remind them of their strength.

What are your favorite coward quotes and sayings that make you want to stand up and fight?

Let us know in the comment section below.