Quotes About Adversity

I went through a string of A&R men who all thought I should be doing something different. One thought I should be a dance diva; another thought I should do Rock n' Roll; and one thought I shouldn't even be singing at all!

I think that some of the best runs that I've been on as a coach have come as the result of a tough loss or a string of tough losses that galvanized us and made us figure out who we were. Then we were able to take off. You have to use them as learning experiences and move forward.

Getting bad reviews or doing something that's not great is also really good for you as an actor. It also makes me feel as an actor that I've earned my stripes a bit.

When you're in prison, and we're left to our own devices, you're stripped of everything, and you really get to see who these people are, the good and the bad.

Failure means a stripping away of the inessential.

I have to strive to go two steps forward and realize that, sometimes, there will be one step back.

When you get a little knockback in your career, it gives you something to strive for.

People striving, being knocked down and coming back... this is what builds character in a man.

It is in the failures of our striving that we find ourselves, and it is then, in the rising above them and trying again, that we carry ourselves to the next level. If the runner stumbles, they get up and run again.

I had internal bleeding with blood clots on the brain. I was completely blind and deaf. I had a heart attack and a stroke.

My father was unwell when I was 11, had a stroke at 14 and died when I was 18. My mother going to work at seven in the morning and coming back to look after him and me and my brother left its mark on me.

Remember one thing about ESPN: People can be critical of them sometimes for being a large corporation but nine years ago I had a stroke and I couldn't talk. That's the way I made my living. ESPN could've dumped me very easy, but they didn't. They helped me and presented me an opportunity to get back on the air.

I had a stroke in December of '99, and it affected my left side - my fingering side.

Words don't go from the brain to the lips in time. That's what a stroke does to you... and that hurts me.

I like criticism. It makes you strong.

Anything can happen, so you have to control your attitude and stay strong.

My grandmother always told me that regardless of what the world gives you, stay humble. Stay strong in your beliefs, and be honest. And when you're wrong, be a man and say you're wrong. And be strong when you're right.

Kitchens are hard environments and they form incredibly strong characters.

Sometimes you have to exercise your insanity, to really make it strong.

I've been through so much, especially coming from New Orleans where there was Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I had to pick up. We had to move, make new friends, and I think my family was just strong for me as well because we had to start completely over again.

Being culturally ambiguous and having to deal with bullying made me strong and independent.

Mentally strong people overcome setbacks with confidence because adversity only makes them better.

I think that my parents' divorce gave me a very strong sense of self-reliance and independence. I realised that I needed to make sure I could support myself because you don't know what's going to happen in the future.

It's very easy to approach a character like that - a so-called strong woman who overcomes the odds - and give a one-note performance, playing that strength alone. Strength is only one thing a person has.