Quotes About Adversity

If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold you head high, look it squarely in eye and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.'

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

Such is an actor's life. We must ride the waves of every film, barfing occasionally, yet maintain our dignity, even as the bulk of our Herculean efforts are keel-hauled before our very eyes. [On filming MacHale's Navy]

Why don't you climb down off the cross, take the wood to build a bridge, and get over it!

Life is full of chances and changes, and the most prosperous of men may...meet with great misfortunes.

What is life, after all, but a challenge? And what better challenge can there be than the one between the pitcher and the hitter.

All my life, affection has been showered upon me, and every forward step I have made has been taken in spite of it

Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitudes toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.

The higher the hill, the stronger the wind: so the loftier the life, the stronger the enemy's temptations.

Life is a tragedy full of joy.

Life is a yo-yo, and mankind ties knots in the string

I think we all wish we could erase some dark times in our lives. But all of life's experiences, bad and good, make you who you are. Erasing any of life's experiences would be a great mistake.

What do you first do when you learn to swim? You make mistakes, do you not? And what happens? You make other mistakes, and when you have made all the mistakes you possibly can without drowning - and some of them many times over - what do you find? That you can swim? Well - life is just the same as learning to swim! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live!

It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated...it is finished when it surrenders.

'Tis the set of the sail that decides the goal, and not the storm of life

When all this started, I asked myself, 'Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?' I decided I am going to live-or at least try to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure.

Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. Never take yourself too seriously.

Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself, the most comforting words of all; This, too, shall pass.

Life is divided into the horrible and the miserable.

Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary.

Living your life is a task so difficult, it has never been attempted before.

Sooner or later comes a crisis in our affairs, and how we meet it determines our future happiness and success. Since the beginning of time, every form of life has been called upon to meet such crisis.

No matter how far life pushes you down, no matter how much you hurt, you can always bounce back.

Voyage upon life's sea, To yourself be true, And, whatever your lot may be, Paddle your own canoe.