Quotes About Adversity

Yet little Tom was not unhappy. He had a hard time of it but did not know it. It was the sort of time that all the Offal Court boys had; therefore he supposed it was the correct and comfortable thing.

I don't mind what the opposition say of me so long as they don't tell the truth about me. But when they descend to telling the truth about me I consider that this is taking an unfair advantage.

Bilgewater, and so what's the use o' your bein' sour? It'll only make things oncomfortable. It ain't my fault I warn't born a duke, it ain't your fault you warn't born a king—so what's the use to worry? Make the best o' things the way you find 'em, says I—that's my motto.

Why, you simple creatures, the weakest of all weak things is a virtue which has not been tested in the fire.

B?rak?n ac?mas?z hayat elinden geleni ard?na koymas?n; tek bildiÄŸim ÅŸudur ki... benim için de bir yerlerde bir mezar vard?r.

just as men's misfortunes are forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises.

All'inizio di un cambiamento, il patriota è un uomo cupo, impavido, odiato e diffamato. Ma quando la sua causa ha successo, il timido gli si unisce, perché a quel punto non costa più niente esser patrioti.

Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles. Not because his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a man's are to a man, but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and drove them out of his mind for the time—just as men's misfortunes are forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises.

He felt much as a man might who had danced blithely out to enjoy a rainbow, and got struck by lightning.

I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.

The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn't stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied.

whithersoever he turned, the bars and shackles of civilization shut him in and bound him hand and foot.

Your mother couldn't read, and she couldn't write, nuther, before she died. None of the family couldn't before they died. I can't; and here you're a-swelling yourself up like this.

But, don't you know, there are some things that can beat smartness and foresight? Awkwardness and stupidity can. The best swordsman in the world doesn't need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn't do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn't prepared for him.

A few fly bites cannot stop a spirited horse.

It's probably possible to gain humility by means other than repeated humiliation, but repeated humiliation works very well.

Back on shore everyone was pretty messed up, but the owner/captain was by far the worst off. He ended up drunk for a week, though the only thing he ever said was So? The boat's gone. So? Your mate's dead. So? Hey at least you're alive. So? An awful word but it does harden you. It hardened me.

There is no such thing as the last straw. There is only hay.

Navidson's troubles might not have created the house, but they did ultimately shape the way he faced it.

We cannot rest within those walls, we have to struggle past them.

When it is a matter of nature, we rarely find ourselves on familiar ground. At every step, there is something that humiliates and mortifies proud minds

One sinking ship after another, in fact that was the conclusion to every single story he told, so that we, his strange audience, learned not to wonder about the end but paid more attention to the tale preceding the end, those distinguishing events before the inevitable rush of icy water, whirlpools . . .

Most people fear pain. I've learned that not feeling pain is a much more frightening proposition than feeling it. In fact, there are times when I'm playing when I actually enjoy it.

Breaking my neck was the best thing that ever happened to me. I have an Olympic medal. I've been to so many countries I would never have been, met so many people I would never have met. I've done more in the chair, ... than a whole hell of a lot of people who aren't in chairs.