Motivational Quotes

Adversity

Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness --a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster-children into strength and athletic proportion.

- Bryant, William C.

Best Quotes about Adversity

Every hardship; every joy; every temptation is a challenge of the spirit; that the human soul may prove itself. The great chain of necessity wherewith we are bound has divine significance; and nothing happens which has not some service in working out the sublime destiny of the human soul.

Ford, Elias A.

People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.

Dune, Frank Herbert

Trouble shared is trouble halved.

Sayers, Dorothy L.

The proof of gold is fire...

Franklin, Benjamin

The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived ideas. In the event, one is always bewildered by their simplicity, their grandeur of design, and by that element of the bizarre which seems inherent in them.

Cocteau, Jean

Adversities do not make a man frail. They show what sort of man he is.

Kempis, Thomas

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

Schweitzer, Albert

Do not free the camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel.

Chesterton, Gilbert K.

We deem those happy who from the experience of life have learnt to bear its ills without being overcome by them.

Jung, Carl

10.

Two frogs fell into a bowl of cream. One didn't panic, he relaxed and drowned. The other kicked and struggled so much that the cream turned to butter and he walked out.

11.

You'll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.

Schmidt, Walt

12.

He that can heroically endure adversity will bear prosperity with equal greatest of the soul; for the mind that cannot be dejected by the former is not likely to be transported without the latter.

Fielding, Henry

13.

Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.

Rogers, James

14.

Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

James, William

15.

Many who seem to be struggling with adversity are happy; many, amid great affluence, are utterly miserable.

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

16.

Some people bear three kinds of trouble -- the ones they've had, the ones they have, and the ones they expect to have.

Hale, Edward Everett

17.

He who knows no hardships will know no hardihood. He who faces no calamity will need no courage. Mysterious though it is, the characteristics in human nature which we love best grow in a soil with a strong mixture of troubles.

Fosdick, Harry Emerson

18.

Things were bad but now they are OK.

Seymour, Harold J.

19.

Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.

Ward, William A.

20.

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.

Paine, Thomas

21.

Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness --a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster-children into strength and athletic proportion.

Bryant, William C.

22.

Adversity is, to me at least, a tonic and a bracer.

Scott, Sir Walter

23.

It is odd but agitation or contest of any kind gives a rebound to my spirits and sets me up for a time.

Byron, Lord

24.

There is in every woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.

Irving, Washington

25.

People are like stained -- glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within

Ross, Elizabeth Kubler

26.

In a dark time, the eye begins to see.

Roethke, Theodore

27.

Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I'll show you someone who has overcome adversity.

Holtz, Lou

28.

Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. [Isaiah 48:10]

Bible

29.

We all know that sponges grow in the ocean but I wander how much deeper the ocean would be if that wasn't the case.

30.

The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them

31.

Humanity either makes, or breeds, or tolerates all its afflictions.

Wells, H.G.

32.

We see many who are struggling against adversity who are happy, and more although abounding in wealth, who are wretched.

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

33.

God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.

Augustine, St.

34.

Stumbling is not falling.

Proverb, Portuguese

35.

Search for the seed of good in every adversity. Master that principle and you will own a precious shield that will guard you well through all the darkest valleys you must traverse. Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well, when they cannot be discerned from the mountaintop. So will you learn things in adversity that you would never have discovered without trouble. There is always a seed of good. Find it and prosper.

Mandino, Og

36.

Not everything which is bad comes to hurt us.

Proverb, Italian

37.

Tribulation will not hurt you, unless as it too often does; it hardens you and makes you sour, narrow and skeptical.

Chapin, Edwin Hubbel

38.

If we study the lives of great men and women carefully and unemotionally we find that, invariably, greatness was developed, tested and revealed through the darker periods of their lives. One of the largest tributaries of the RIVER OF GREATNESS is always the STREAM OF ADVERSITY.

Robert, Cavett

39.

There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.

Mandino, Og

40.

Do you think that you shall enter the Garden of Bliss without such trials as came to those who passed before you?

Qur'an

41.

I have often been downcast, but never in despair; I regard our hiding as a dangerous adventure, romantic and interesting at the same time. In my diary I treat all the privations as amusing. I have made up my mind now to lead a different life from other girls and, later on, different from ordinary housewives. My start has been so very full of interest, and that is the sole reason why I have to laugh at the humorous side of the most dangerous moments.

Frank, Anne

42.

They that sow in tears shall reap joy. [Psalms 126:5]

Bible

43.

The seaman tells stories of winds, the ploughman of bulls; the soldier details his wounds, the shepherd his sheep.

Propertius, Sextus

44.

You may live in an imperfect world but the frontiers are not closed and the doors are not all shut.

Maltz, Maxwell

45.

A reasonable amount o fleas is good for a dog -- keeps him from brooding over being a dog, maybe.

Westcott, Edward Noyes

46.

Dust is a protective coating for fine furniture.

Burata, Mario

47.

Every silver lining has a cloud.

Avon

48.

In every adversity there lies the seed of an equivalent advantage. In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time.

Collier, Robert

49.

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

Ford, Henry

50.

I have become my own version of an optimist. If I can't make it through one door, I'll go through another door -- or I'll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.

Tagore, Rabindranath