Motivational Quotes

Adversity

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

- Talmud, The

Best Quotes about Adversity

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

Schwab, Charles M.

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

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

Hemingway, Ernest

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

People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.

Dune, Frank Herbert

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

We need tough days to drive us to our knees.

Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly.

Plutarch

Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, This is a misfortune but To bear this worthily is good fortune.

Aurelius, Marcus

10.

He who knows the darkness shall learn to live in the light.

11.

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

12.

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

13.

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

14.

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

Benson, Taylor

15.

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

16.

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

17.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

Nixon, Richard M.

18.

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

Bennet, Arnold

19.

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.

20.

The one who prosperity takes too much delight in will be the most shocked by reverses.

Horace

21.

What is to give light must endure the burning.

Frankl, Viktor E.

22.

The sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to catch up.

23.

Do you think that you shall enter the Garden of Bliss without such trials as came to those who passed before you?

Qur'an

24.

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

Wells, H.G.

25.

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

26.

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

Bible

27.

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

Barclay, H.K.

28.

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

Beecher, Henry Ward

29.

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

30.

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

Proverb, Maori

31.

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

32.

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

33.

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

34.

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

Chesterton, Gilbert K.

35.

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

36.

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

Virgil

37.

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

James, William

38.

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

Warren, Earl

39.

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

Hoffman, Dustin

40.

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

41.

Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, Shake well before using. That is what God has to do with some of His people. He has to shake them well before they are ever usable.

Havner, Vance

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.

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

Richter, Jean Paul

44.

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

45.

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

46.

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

Johnson

47.

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

48.

Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.

Ward, William A.

49.

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

50.

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

Horace