Motivational Quotes

Adversity

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

Best Quotes about Adversity

Prosperity tries the fortunate, adversity the great.

Pliny The Elder

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.

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

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

Propertius, Sextus

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

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

Sheehan, George

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

Shain, Merle

The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved.

Smiles, Samuel

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

Schwab, Charles M.

10.

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

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.

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

13.

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

14.

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

15.

Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.

Johnson, Samuel

16.

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

Benson, Taylor

17.

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

18.

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

Chesterton, Gilbert K.

19.

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

Saadi

20.

People are like stained -- glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within

Ross, Elizabeth Kubler

21.

Failure is success if we learn from it.

Forbes, Malcolm S.

22.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

23.

Trouble is the common denominator of living. It is the great equalizer.

Landers, Ann

24.

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

Movie, Apollo 13

25.

He that can heroically endure adversity will bear prosperity with equal greatest of the soul; for the mind that cannot be dejected by the former is not likely to be transported without the latter.

Fielding, Henry

26.

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

Seneca

27.

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

Colton, Charles Caleb

28.

When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.

Ash, Mary Kay

29.

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

30.

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

31.

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)

32.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

33.

We deem those happy who from the experience of life have learnt to bear its ills without being overcome by them.

Jung, Carl

34.

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

Sting

35.

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

Collins, Kitty O'neill

36.

If you can keep your head about you when all about you are losing theirs, its just possible you haven't grasped the situation.

Kerr, Jean

37.

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.

38.

Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. [Isaiah 48:10]

Bible

39.

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

Seneca

40.

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?

41.

When walking through the valley of shadows, remember, a shadow is cast by a Light.

Barclay, H.K.

42.

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

Maltz, Maxwell

43.

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

44.

We need tough days to drive us to our knees.

45.

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

46.

When I dig another out of trouble, the hole from which I lift him is the place where I bury my own.

47.

Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist -- it reduces him to his fighting weight.

Billings, Josh

48.

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