Quotes About Adversity

Sometimes the Universe smiled. Mostly she kicked me in the face, stomped on my ribs once I fell down, and laughed at my pain, but once in a while she smiled.

But then I didn't run from my challenges. I met them straight on and bashed my head against them, until it left me hurt, bloody, and dazed.

I can be a good dragon, when the occasion requires it.

There are times in life when sugar turns into medicine. This was one of those times.

Failure happened. The trick was to accept the risk and try anyway.

How is it that Raphael made more holes in you than in swiss cheese, but your assholeness survived?" "Raphael doesn't have a knife big enough to kill my assholeness.

That's all right, she told him. I can manage. I can sleep outside just fine. Four pairs of eyes looked at her with a distinctly male skepticism.

When life hits you in the gut, it's always a sucker punch. You never see it coming. One moment you're walking along, worrying your little worries and making quiet plans, and the next you're rolled into a ball, trying to hug yourself against the pain, frantic and reeling, your mind a jumble of scared thoughts.

If I could, I would punch today right in the face.

When it all got taken away, I was becoming a young man. So I had to sacrifice to leave my family... Sleeping in my car, getting an apartment for a month and getting evicted the next month. Staying in the $25, $50 hotels.

As a young man, I feel as if it's all about progressing. I may have had to mature a little faster than others, but no worries. I took it on full steam and led by example off the field.

I've lived so much life as a young man. New Orleans, we got terms, and one's like, 'He jumped off the porch early.' That's kind of what happened to me. I had to grow up really quick.

What I like most about the series is that the stories deal 75 percent of the time with the problems of Peter Parker, a normal, unremarkable young man when he isn't out fighting crime.

We fought in 1974 - that was a long time ago. After 1981, we became the best of friends. By 1984, we loved each other. I am not closer to anyone else in this life than I am to Muhammad Ali. Why? We were forged by that first fight in Zaire, and our lives are indelibly linked by memories and photographs, as young men and old men.

Young men often seek tests and trials, and to me, BUD/S training - basic underwater demolition/SEAL - seemed like the ultimate test.

We come from an environment that has been created in our industry that's a 'yes' environment. Due to that environment, it has set back a lot of our youth that are not just basketball players, but young men who happen to be able to play the game of basketball really well.

'Suffering should not make us bitter people,' my mother once said, 'it should make us better comforters.' Young people need to hear this from those who have walked before them, because someday they'll be walking those same steps, but there may not be anyone following behind.

There's an examination for young people to go to university. I failed it three times. I failed a lot. So I applied to 30 different jobs and got rejected. I went for a job with the police; they said, 'You're no good.' I even went to KFC when it came to my city. Twenty-four people went for the job. Twenty-three were accepted.

Young people can get very discouraged and get hooked on drugs or on alcohol because of problems they perceive as insurmountable. It is important that they realize a mistake need not ruin their future, but they must also know that not everything in life is a bed of roses.

I think Dr Dre really evolved and really is a great role model for young people that have had to survive and thrive against all odds. He was able to turn his life around and create an empire and become a successful family person.

The capacity of young people to persevere, even under the most adverse conditions, never ceases to amaze me.

When I was a deacon, the ominous signs of the Great Depression began to appear. Tens of thousands lost their jobs. Money was scarce. Families had to do without. Some young people did not ask their mothers, 'What's for dinner?' because they knew all too well that their cupboards held very little.

The big businesses are less willing to take risks. I talked to some young people in Hong Kong, and they said they are lost. Young people indeed have fewer opportunities than before. But is it true that there are no more opportunities for them? No!

If I'm going to be a pessimist, then I should just stop writing for young people because that's too heavy a burden to put on young readers. But also, I get to meet with people who have waded through horrible things, and they get up every morning, and they try to do their best.