# faith can move mountains

idiom · CEFR C1

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/faith-can-move-mountains
Updated: 2026-07-29

## Meaning

Strong belief and conviction can accomplish seemingly impossible things.

## Examples

- Don't give up — faith can move mountains.
- Everyone said the clinic would never open, but she believed it would, and faith can move mountains.
- The little school had no money and no allies, yet the teachers pressed on in the conviction that faith can move mountains, and ten years later the building they had been told was impossible stood finished on the hill.

## Origin

The saying comes from Matthew 17:20, where Jesus tells his disciples that with faith as small as a mustard seed they could say to a mountain, move from here to there, and it would move — nothing would be impossible for them. The rhetorical force is in the contrast between the tiniest of seeds and the largest of landmarks: a very little of the right thing set against something that cannot ordinarily be shifted at all. In English faith can move mountains has broadened well beyond religion to name any deep conviction — belief in a cause, a person, or oneself — that drives people to achieve what looked flatly impossible.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.