have the guts

Idioms  

1. Possess the courage, as in Does he have the guts to dive off the high board? This expression replaces the earlier and now obsolete sense of stomach as “courage,” a usage from the early 1500s. [Slang; late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

Fuzz guitars thrust the song forwards, as 32-year-old Sampa, full name Sampa Tembo, defiantly raps: "They don't have the guts to match my prowess."

From BBC

He added, “Let’s be honest — you became a millionaire off of her pain. And now, you want to act like the mature one, like the man who held it all together? If you’re going to write a book, at least have the guts to tell the truth about your part in it.”

From Salon

“They have to have the guts to put their stars on the table.”

From Los Angeles Times

"Every time you get your heart broken you have to bounce back and it makes for a better story – but you have to have the guts to keep going after it," Rotella added.

From BBC

Before they met, Dresdner remembers seeing Zapata on campus and feeling “inspired and intimidated” by her but says he didn’t have “the guts” to talk to her.

From Los Angeles Times