Motivational Quotes

Adversity

It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish.

- Heraclitus

Best Quotes about Adversity

I used to hurt so badly that I'd ask God why, what have I done to deserve any of this? I feel now He was preparing me for this, for the future. That's the way I see it.

Jackson, Janet

I got in trouble with the police, and that was a rude awakening. That was it. I'd seen the bottom of the pit, and it was time to scrape myself out of it.

Adams, Bryan

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

Chesterton, Gilbert K.

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

Chapin, Edwin Hubbel

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

Seneca

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

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

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

If the going is real easy, beware, you may be headed down hill and don't know it.

10.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

Nietzsche, Friedrich

11.

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

12.

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

Bennet, Arnold

13.

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

Collins, Kitty O'neill

14.

The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.

Scott, Sir Walter

15.

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.

16.

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

17.

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

18.

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

19.

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

20.

Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.

Horace

21.

I would never have amounted to anything were it not for adversity. I was forced to come up the hard way.

Penney, J. C. (James Cash)

22.

Adversity is the first path to truth.

Byron, Lord

23.

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

24.

If you want to win anything -- a race, your self, your life -- you have to go a little berserk.

Sheehan, George

25.

In terms of the game theory, we might say the universe is so constituted as to maximize play. The best games are not those in which all goes smoothly and steadily toward a certain conclusion, but those in which the outcome is always in doubt. Similarly, the geometry of life is designed to keep us at the point of maximum tension between certainty and uncertainty, order and chaos. Every important call is a close one. We survive and evolve by the skin of our teeth. We really wouldn't want it any other way.

Leonard, George

26.

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

27.

Constant success shows us but one side of the world; adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.

Colton, Charles Caleb

28.

Nothing bad ever happens without equal or growth

29.

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

30.

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

Seneca

31.

There could be no honor in a sure success, but much might be wrested from a sure defeat.

Lawrence, Thomas E.

32.

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

Seneca

33.

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

Chesterton, Gilbert K.

34.

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

Westcott, Edward Noyes

35.

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.

Benson, Taylor

36.

When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.

Ash, Mary Kay

37.

It is in the gift for employing all the vicissitudes of life to one's own advantage and to that of one's craft that a large part of genius consists.

Lichtenberg, Georg C.

38.

Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.

Winfrey, Oprah

39.

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

Proverb, Chinese

40.

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.

41.

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path.

Gibran, Kahlil

42.

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

Brown, Les

43.

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

Alcott, Louisa May

44.

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

45.

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

46.

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.

47.

Adversity is a fact of life. It can't be controlled. What we can control is how we react to it.

48.

We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.

Grant, Hanmer Parsons

49.

A heart well prepared for adversity in bad times hopes, and in good times fears for a change in fortune.

Horace

50.