Quotes About Adversity

She knew how to get by on next to nothing.

I did know was that I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes. • • •

Dad's death didn't hollow me out the way Helen's had. After all, everyone had assumed Dad was a goner back when he got kicked in the head as a child. Instead, he had cheated death and, despite his gimp and speech impediment, lived a long life doing pretty much what he wanted. He hadn't drawn the best of cards, but he'd played his hand darned well, so what was there to grieve over?

We're becoming a nation of sissies.

You know you're down and out when Okies laugh at you,' she said. With our garbage bag taped window, our tied down hood, and art supplies strapped to the roof, we'd out-Okied the Okies.

Just remember," Mom said after examining the blisters, "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger." "If that was true, I'd be Hercules by now," Lori said.

we fought a lot in welch. Not just to fend off our enemies but to fit in. Maybe it was because there was so little to do in Welch; Maybe it was because life there was hard and it made the people hard...maybe it was because mining was dangerous and cramped and dirty work and it put all the miners in bad moods and they came home and took it out on their wives, who took it out on their kids, who took it out on other kids.

Dad said High Lonesome, as the area was known, wasn't a place for the soft of head or the weak of heart, and he said that was why he and I made out just fine there, because we were both tough nuts.

What turns to stone is inside you.

The barn was dark from the storm, and we couldn't find the harness, which no one had used in years. Old Jake, who had sprained his good foot falling off a horse and was hobbling around worse than ever, started getting panicky at the idea of the dam giving out and washing away the cattle, but I told him to hush his mouth. We all knew what was at stake, and if we were going to save the ranch, we needed clear heads.

You busted your snot locker pretty good.

My favorite books all involved people dealing with hardships.

Most important thing in life," he would say, "is learning how to fall." *

The scar meant that I was stronger than what had tried to hurt me.

That was the thing to remember about all monsters, Dad said: They love the freighter people, but the minute you stare them down, they turn tail and run.

Mom waved at the crowd. "You know you're down and out when Okies laugh at you," she said. With our garbage-bag-taped window, our roped-down hood, and the art supplies tied to the roof, we'd out-Okied the Okies. The thought gave her a fit of the giggles.

One of the ways to discover our toughness and resiliency is to look back at where we come from. (from Amazon description)

Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls

months pregnant. Dad, who had fixed

Mom always said people worried too much about their children. Suffering when you're young is good for you, she said. It immunized your body and your soul, and that was why she ignored us kids when we cried. Fussing over children who cry only encourages them, she told us. That's positive reinforcement for negative behavior.

Once the fire was out and the sodden, burned tree lay smoldering on the floor, we all just stood there. No one tried to wring Dad's neck or yell at him or even point out that he'd ruined the Christmas his family had spent weeks planning—the Christmas that was supposed to be the best we'd ever had. When Dad went crazy, we all had our own ways of shutting down and closing off, and that was what we did that night.

Most important thing in life, he would say, is learning how to fall.

Dad, I said, you'll never build the Glass Castle.