Motivational Quotes

Adversity

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

Best Quotes about Adversity

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

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

Colton, Charles Caleb

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

Beecher, Henry Ward

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.

Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly.

Plutarch

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.

A man is insensible to the relish of prosperity until he has tasted adversity.

Saadi

Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or by the handle.

Lowell, James Russell

Your dips an falls do not confound me, half as much as your heights astound me.

10.

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

Collins, Kitty O'neill

11.

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

12.

What is to give light must endure the burning.

Frankl, Viktor E.

13.

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

Weltman, Phil

14.

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

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

15.

The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is.

Schwab, Charles M.

16.

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.

17.

They sicken at the calm that know the storm.

Parker, Dorothy

18.

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.

19.

If you're on thin ice, you might as well dance.

20.

The harder you fall, the higher you bounce.

Horton, Doug

21.

In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.

Devito, Danny

22.

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

Benson, Taylor

23.

Every man has a rainy corner of his life whence comes foul weather which follows him.

Richter, Jean Paul

24.

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

Hemingway, Ernest

25.

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

Virgil

26.

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

Kapuscinski, Ryszard

27.

Suffering! We owe to it all that is good in us, all that gives value to life; we owe to it pity, we owe to it courage, we owe to it all the virtues.

France, Anatole

28.

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

Neal, John

29.

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

Hazlitt, William

30.

Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.

Jones, Charles ''Tremendous''

31.

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

32.

Every silver lining has a cloud.

Avon

33.

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

34.

When it gets dark enough you can see the stars.

Salk, Lee

35.

The proof of gold is fire...

Franklin, Benjamin

36.

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

Bennet, Arnold

37.

In my room as a kid... I'd play a fighter and get knocked to the floor and come back to win.

Hoffman, Dustin

38.

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

Heraclitus

39.

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

40.

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.

Seneca

41.

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

Wells, H.G.

42.

Just because Fate doesn?t deal you the right cards, it doesn?t mean you should give up. It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential.

Brown, Les

43.

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

44.

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

Augustine, St.

45.

Prosperity tries the fortunate, adversity the great.

Pliny The Elder

46.

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

47.

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

James, William

48.

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

49.

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines.

Paige, Leroy ''Satchel''

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