Quotes About Adversity

Sometimes stuff just happens, you know? There's not always some simple thing to point to, like if you just don't do this, nothing can go wrong. Something can always go wrong. But we don't like to think that way, so we point a lot.

felt himself fall off the center line for the first time. Deeply into self-pity. He didn't even bother to try to break his own fall. He just sank all the way down. Let the current take him away.

Ethan tries not to look back on that night. At least, as much as human nature allows. But it's a funny thing about your darkest moments. They have a life of their own. They come around because they've got you pinned. Because they can. The harder you try to push them back into the shadows, the stronger they grow. They draw power from your resistance.

We take things on a little at a time because all at once they'd kill

But when you're already swimming in a sea of humiliation deep enough to drown you, it doesn't matter much if somebody throws in another bucketful. It's not worth it to stop and pay attention to that when you need to keep paddling.

lot of roads. Some not so happy. And it makes them what they are. So if you run around putting a pillow under people to cushion their fall . . . well, I'm just not sure it's quite the favor we think it is.

Look for strength in unexpected places.

whatever happens, I'll be okay. People get by in all kinds of situations. All over the world people are getting by on almost nothing. Losing things they think they can't live without. Or at least that they think they can't be happy without. But then it's pretty hard to be happy . . . you know . . . if it's dependent on some material possession not going away. I don't want to live like that.

See now why I hate to go outside so much?" "Yeah. I guess I do. But you gotta do it anyway, right? I mean, it's life. You gotta do life. Right?" "Not really," Billy said. "You don't have to. Lots of people don't do life any more. They just stop at some point. And once you stop, it's really hard to get started again. But then, once you get started again, it's kind of hard to stop.

Bag in hand, she cut across what might have been green lawn if this hadn't been the Central California Valley. If it hadn't been more or less one hundred degrees all summer, including now. Instead her boots crunched over a sea of wood chips on the way to Barn C. She had to take a "long cut" to avoid a watering truck that was spraying down the path to keep the dust to a minimum

When anything is very bad, usually the method to fix it is also bad, and keeps you from putting it completely behind you.

anybody can think the world is beautiful when it's all going their way. That's just like untested faith.

Part of the joy is feeling like you can make your way in a world that isn't always easy. Anyway,

The wilderness just has this way of reminding you that you're powerless. And that what you want doesn't matter. We always think we're so smart and strong, but nature always gets the last laugh.

Look for strength in unexpected places." Not only might you find it there, but it might be more beautiful and more hopeful than strength found anywhere else. Here's to strength

We deal with everything, because, short of actually deciding not to live anymore, we don't have any other option. Not one damned option.

But if I were to simply remain within my comfort zone, clinging to the way I want to feel—unchallenged—my comfort zone would just keep getting smaller.

And I think to myself, If you think having and losing is so bad, try never having. Now that's devastating.

higher and kicked him.

But there was no way to slice it that did not feel like a loss. He would simply have to file it away with all the other things—both small and large—that should not have been asking too much from life, but which life had taken from him all the same.

It was actually harder to think about moving forward into whatever unknown situation they had planned for me than to ditch out and go back to what I knew. What I knew was terrible, but at least I knew it, and there's something that's almost a comfort in that.

See, that's always the thing. While you're breathing and being all happy that the whole house didn't come falling down, you know there's another card drop coming right up. It's not about gaining much. It's just about gaining. It's always about not losing everything in the exact moment you're in.

It's like a sheet of blue-lined paper, the kind you write on at school, but with the lines suddenly missing. No structure. Nothing is predictable. Everything that might happen now is new. Sometimes disasters make me feel that way.

I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.