Motivational Quotes

Adversity

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

- Chesterton, Gilbert K.

Best Quotes about Adversity

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Many miles away there's a shadow on the door of a cottage on the Shore of a dark Scottish lake.

Sting

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

Adversity draws men together and produces beauty and harmony in life's relationships, just as the cold of winter produces ice-flowers on the window-panes, which vanish with the warmth.

Kierkegaard, S°ren

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

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

Out of love and hatred, out of earnings and borrowings and leadings and losses; out of sickness and pain; out of wooing and worshipping; out of traveling and voting and watching and caring; out of disgrace and contempt, comes our tuition in the serene and beautiful laws.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

We say, sorrow, disaster, calamity. God says,chastening and it sounds sweet to him though it is a discord to our ears. Don't faint when you are rebuked, and don't despise the chastening of the Lord. In your patience possess your souls.

Chambers, Oswald

Nothing splendid was ever created in cold blood. Heat is required to forge anything. Every great accomplishment is the story of a flaming heart.

Glasgow, Arnold H.

10.

If your cup seems too bitter, if your burden seems to heavy, be sure that it is the wounded hand that is holding the cup, and that it is me who carried the cross that is carrying the burden.

11.

Anytime you suffer a setback or disappointment, put your head down and plow ahead.

Brown, Les

12.

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

Scott, Sir Walter

13.

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

14.

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning to sail my ship.

Alcott, Louisa May

15.

One likes people much better when they're battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.

Woolf, Virginia

16.

Never bear more than one kind of trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds; all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have.

Hale, Edward Everett

17.

It is easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows by like a song. But the man worth while is the one who can smile, when everything goes dead wrong. For the test of the heart is troubled, And it always comes with the years. And the smiles that is worth the praises of earth is the smile that shines through tears.

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler

18.

Tough times never last, but tough people do.

Schuller, Robert H.

19.

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

Schweitzer, Albert

20.

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

21.

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

Holtz, Lou

22.

I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time.

Walton, Sam

23.

We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.

Beecher, Henry Ward

24.

To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.

Epictetus

25.

To endure is the first thing that a child ought to learn, and that which he will have the most need to know.

Rousseau, Jean Jacques

26.

Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober; not to make us sorry but wise.

Beecher, Henry Ward

27.

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.

Seneca

28.

Life has meaning only in the struggle. Triumph or defeat is in the hands of the Gods. So let us celebrate the struggle!

Swahili Warrior Song

29.

The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.

Seneca

30.

A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind.

Neal, John

31.

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

Kempis, Thomas

32.

One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.

Chesterton, Gilbert K.

33.

When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better.

Forbes, Malcolm S.

34.

All life demands struggle. Those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today.

Ransom, Ralph

35.

Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, This is a misfortune but To bear this worthily is good fortune.

Aurelius, Marcus

36.

Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.

Hazlitt, William

37.

You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.

Angelis, Barbara De

38.

Had there been no difficulties and no thorns in the way, then man would have been in his primitive state and no progress made in civilization and mental culture.

Joshee, Anandabai

39.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

Proverb, Chinese

40.

Things were bad but now they are OK.

Seymour, Harold J.

41.

It's easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top.

Bennet, Arnold

42.

The stars are constantly shining, but often we do not see them until the dark hours.

43.

The worst thing that happens to you may be the best thing for you if you don't let it get the best of you.

Rogers, Will

44.

Dust is a protective coating for fine furniture.

Burata, Mario

45.

Misfortunes leave wounds which bleed drop by drop even in sleep; thus little by little they train man by force and dispose him to wisdom in spite of himself. Man must learn to think of himself as a limited and dependent being; and only suffering teaches

Weil, Simone

46.

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

Maltz, Maxwell

47.

God left the world unfinished for man to work his skill upon. He left the electricity still in the cloud, the oil still in the earth. How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource! We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven.

Macdonald, George

48.

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

49.

Breakdowns can create breakthroughs. Things fall apart so things can fall together.

50.

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.

Hill, Napoleon