Motivational Quotes

Adversity

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

- Warren, Earl

Best Quotes about Adversity

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

Weltman, Phil

We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.

Beecher, Henry Ward

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

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

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.

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

Colton, Charles Caleb

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

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

Adversity is, to me at least, a tonic and a bracer.

Scott, Sir Walter

10.

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

11.

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

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

12.

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

13.

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

Heraclitus

14.

There will be no crown bearers in heaven who are not cross bearers on earth.

15.

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

16.

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

Grant, Hanmer Parsons

17.

Many who seem to be struggling with adversity are happy; many, amid great affluence, are utterly miserable.

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

18.

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

Brown, Les

19.

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

20.

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

Bible

21.

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

22.

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

Hemingway, Ernest

23.

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

24.

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

25.

Enter through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to damnation is wide, the road is clear, and many choose to travel it. But how narrow is the gate that leads to life, how rough the road, and how few there are who find it. [Mathew 7:13-14]

Bible

26.

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

Aesop

27.

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.

28.

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

29.

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

Schweitzer, Albert

30.

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

Lawrence, Thomas E.

31.

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.

Seneca

32.

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

Hazlitt, William

33.

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

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

34.

That which causes us trials shall yield us triumph: and that which make our hearts ache shall fill us with gladness. The only true happiness is to learn, to advance, and to improve: which could not happen unless we had commence with error, ignorance, and imperfection. We must pass through the darkness, to reach the light.

Pike, Albert

35.

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

Ziglar, Zig

36.

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

Landers, Ann

37.

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

38.

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

39.

A wounded deer leaps the highest.

Dickinson, Emily

40.

Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly.

Plutarch

41.

Stumbling is not falling.

Proverb, Portuguese

42.

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

43.

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

44.

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

Devito, Danny

45.

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

Gesser

46.

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

Seneca

47.

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

Sheehan, George

48.

There are times in everyone's life when something constructive is born out of adversity... when things seem so bad that you've got to grab your fate by the shoulders and shake it.

49.

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

Zwanzig, Carl

50.

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

Seneca