Motivational Quotes

Adversity

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

Best Quotes about Adversity

When a man gets to despair he knows that all his thinking will never get him out. He will only get out by the sheer creative effort of God. Consequently he is in the right attitude to receive from God that which he cannot gain for himself.

Chambers, Oswald

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

Men stumble over pebbles, never over mountains

Cady, Emilie

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.

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

Trials, temptations, disappointments -- all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the fiber of character but strengthen it. Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

Buckham, James

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

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.

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

10.

Fosdick, Harry Emerson

11.

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

12.

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

13.

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

Bible

14.

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

15.

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

Qur'an

16.

What I am looking for is a blessing not in disguise.

Collins, Kitty O'neill

17.

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

18.

Stumbling is not falling.

Proverb, Portuguese

19.

As iron put into the fire loseth its rust and becometh clearly red-hot, so he that wholly turneth himself unto God puts off all slothfulness, and is transformed into a new man.

Kempis, Thomas

20.

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

Wells, H.G.

21.

I didn't know I'd have to be torn down before I could be built up.

22.

One often learns more from ten days of agony than from ten years of contentment.

Shain, Merle

23.

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

24.

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.

Seneca

25.

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

Proverb, Maori

26.

Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful.

Ziglar, Zig

27.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places.

Hemingway, Ernest

28.

Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

Zwanzig, Carl

29.

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

James, William

30.

Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for it.

Warren, Earl

31.

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

Chesterton, Gilbert K.

32.

You have endured worse things; God will grant an end even to these.

Virgil

33.

The path of least resistance is the path of the loser.

Weltman, Phil

34.

The harder you fall, the higher you bounce.

Horton, Doug

35.

Life is truly known only to those who suffer, lose, endure adversity and stumble from defeat to defeat.

Kapuscinski, Ryszard

36.

Not everything which is bad comes to hurt us.

Proverb, Italian

37.

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

38.

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

Chapin, Edwin Hubbel

39.

He who knows the darkness shall learn to live in the light.

40.

Am I willing to give up what I have in order to be what I am not yet? Am I able to follow the spirit of love into the desert? It is a frightening and sacred moment. There is no return. One's life is charged forever. It is the fire that gives us our shape.

Richards, Mary Caroline

41.

As a rule, adversity reveals genius and prosperity hides it.

Horace

42.

Only entropy comes easy.

Mumford, Lewis

43.

It is not good for all our wishes to be filled; through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion, the value of rest.

Saying, Greek

44.

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

45.

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.

Seneca

46.

You never know what events are going to transpire to get you home.

Movie, Apollo 13

47.

The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.

Post, Laurens Van du

48.

Forget the times of your distress, but never forget what they taught you.