Quotes About Adversity

I find that it is not the circumstances in which we are placed, but the spirit in which we face them, that constitutes our comfort.

To repel one's cross is to make it heavier.

In the face of an obstacle which is impossible to overcome, stubbornness is stupid.

No traveler e'er reached that blest abode who found not thorns and briers in his road.

We cannot conquer fate and necessity, yet we can yield to them in such a manner as to be greater than if we could.

Here is a rule to remember when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, "This is a misfortune," but "To bear this worthily is good fortune."

Trouble will come soon enough, and when he does come receive him as pleasantly as possible ... the more amiably you greet him, the sooner he will go away.

Love only what befalls you and is spun for you by fate.

An oak and a reed were arguing about their strength. When a strong wind came up, the reed avoided being uprooted by bending and leaning with the gusts of wind. But the oak stood firm and was torn up by the roots.

He who attempts to resist the wave is swept away, but he who bends before it abides.

When I decided to go into politics I weighed the costs. I would get criticism. But I went ahead. So when virulent criticism came I wasn't surprised. I was better able to handle it.

The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.

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

If you cast away one cross, you will certainly find another, and perhaps a heavier.

No life is so hard that you can't make it easier by the way you take it.

No rose without a thorn.

I have learned to live with it all... whatever happens ... all of it.

There is no sense in the struggle, but there is no choice but to struggle.

Boys, this is only a game. But it's like life in that you will be dealt some bad hands. Take each hand, good or bad, and don't whine and complain, but play it out. If you're men enough to do that, God will help and you will come out well.

Doing what's right is no guarantee against misfortune.

James Drummond Burns

People don't ever seem to realize that doing what's right is no guarantee against misfortune.

Too much happens ... Man performs, engenders so much more than he can or should have to bear. That's how he finds that he can bear anything.

A great man does not lose his self-possession when he is afflicted; the ocean is not made muddy by the falling in of its banks.