Quotes About Adversity

I think it's because it shows that people--or hobbits, as the case may be--can find strength they didn't know they had.

Mom would often talk about a refugee boy she'd met in a hospital in Afghanistan. He was the victim of a land mine and had lost a leg. She said to him that she brought greetings to him from schoolchildren in New York. "Tell them not to worry about me," this little boy told her from his hospital bed. "I still have one leg.

Often we feel the need to say that a book isn't just about a particular time or place but is about the human spirit. People say this of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, or Night by Elie Wiesel, or A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah.

The Bite of the Mango,

That's the point, Will. You can't control the beatings. But maybe you can have some control over your happiness.

Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française

he objected to work, but that the world being the harsh place it is he had to suffer his lot like the rest of humanity.

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.

Kortom: net als altijd in het leven, een soort specifiek gemiddelde van ellende.

Waarom huilen? Beter nooit huilen. Er is maar één keus: het loodje leggen of volhouden. Als je eenmaal hebt besloten vol te houden, huil dan niet. Nooit opgeven, nooit en nooit en nooit. Het is trouwens de vraag of je dit kan beslissen. Waarschijnlijk is het leven een brok lijm, waarin je bijt en waaruit je je tanden nooit meer los kan trekken.

Ik heb tot dusver ondervonden dat op deze tocht niets voortdurend erger wordt dan het al is. Na klimmen volgt afdalen, regen houdt ook wel weer eens op, moeras wordt opgevolgd door droog terrein en zelfs de stenen waarop ik mijn enkels verzwik, zijn soms over lange afstanden afwezig. Kortom: net als altijd in het leven, een soort specifiek gemiddelde van ellende.

Adversity cause some men to break others to break records.

Soul's Castle fell at one blast of temptation, But many a worm had pierced the foundation.

Failure is not fatal. Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. It should challenge us to new heights of accomplishments, not pull us to new depths of despair. From honest failure can come valuable experience

Failure is not fatal. Failure should be our teacher, nor our undertaker. It should challenge us to new heights of accomplishments, not pull us to new depths of despair. From honest failure can come valuable experience.

The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain -- he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem -- he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills

Adversity causes some men to break others to break records.

A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.

If you consider yourself a victim, you are not going to have a good life; if, however, you refuse to think of yourself as a victim—if you refuse to let your inner self be conquered by your external circumstances—you are likely to have a good life, no matter what turn your external circumstances take. (In particular, the Stoics thought it possible for a person to retain his tranquility despite being punished for attempting to reform the society in which he lived.)

If we are overly sensitive, we will be quick to anger. More generally, says Seneca, if we coddle ourselves, if we allow ourselves to be corrupted by pleasure, nothing will seem bearable to us, and the reason things will seem unbearable is not because they are hard but because we are soft.

Epictetus tells us that "it is difficulties that reveal what men amount to; and so, whenever you're struck by a difficulty, remember that God, like a trainer in the gymnasium, has matched you against a tough young opponent." And why would God do such a thing?

Epictetus tells us that "it is difficulties that reveal what men amount to; and so, whenever you're struck by a difficulty, remember that God, like a trainer in the gymnasium, has matched you against a tough young opponent." And why would God do such a thing? "So that you may become an Olympic victor; and that is something that can't be achieved without sweat.

Stoic test strategy: when faced with a setback, we should treat it as a test of our resilience and resourcefulness, devised and administered, as I have said, by imaginary Stoic gods.

we must take care to be "the user, but not the slave, of the gifts of Fortune.