Motivational Quotes

Adversity

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

Best Quotes about Adversity

Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, grow, grow.

Talmud, The

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

Propertius, Sextus

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

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

No man is more unhappy than the one who is never in adversity; the greatest affliction of life is never to be afflicted.

Every burden is a blessing.

Schuller, Robert H.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.

Bible

Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes.

Bacon, Francis

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

Hoffman, Dustin

10.

When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.

Ash, Mary Kay

11.

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

12.

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

13.

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

14.

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)

15.

Adversity is a great teacher, but this teacher makes us pay dearly for its instruction; and often the profit we derive, is not worth the price we paid.

Rousseau, Jean Jacques

16.

If the career you have chosen has some unexpected inconvenience, console yourself by reflecting that no career is without them.

Johnson

17.

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

Chesterton, Gilbert K.

18.

It's a matter of ABC: When we encounter ADVERSITY, we react by thinking about it. Our thoughts rapidly congeal into BELIEFS. These beliefs may become so habitual we don't even realize we have them unless we stop to focus on them. And they don't just sit there idly; they have CONSEQUENCES. The beliefs are the direct cause of what we feel and what we do next. They can spell the difference between dejection and giving up, on the one hand, and well-being and constructive action on the other. The first step is to see the connection between adversity, belief, and consequence. The second step is to see how the ABCs operate every day in your own life.

Seligman, Martin E. P.

19.

Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward.

Gallagher, Robert C.

20.

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

21.

In times of storm, the shallowness of the root structure is revealed.

22.

It takes a real storm in the average person's life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls.

Advisor, Heartland

23.

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

Seneca

24.

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

Walton, Sam

25.

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

26.

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

27.

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

28.

A wounded deer leaps the highest.

Dickinson, Emily

29.

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

Benson, Taylor

30.

The harder you fall, the higher you bounce.

Horton, Doug

31.

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

Westcott, Edward Noyes

32.

I bring to my life a certain amount of mess.

Coppola, Francis Ford

33.

Only entropy comes easy.

Mumford, Lewis

34.

Men often bear little grievances with less courage than they do large misfortunes.

Aesop

35.

Trouble shared is trouble halved.

Sayers, Dorothy L.

36.

In a dark time, the eye begins to see.

Roethke, Theodore

37.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

38.

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

39.

There are three modes of bearing the ills of life, by indifference, by philosophy, and by religion.

Colton, Charles Caleb

40.

Not everything which is bad comes to hurt us.

Proverb, Italian

41.

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

42.

Every silver lining has a cloud.

Avon

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.

If your knees are knocking, kneel on them.

45.

The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

46.

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

47.

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

48.

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

49.

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

Maltz, Maxwell

50.

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

Alcott, Louisa May