Quotes About Adversity

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself, the means of inspiration and survival. —Sir Winston Churchill

Who, after all, was to say, what was the 'right side' of the war, especially after the turmoil, the food shortages, and scarcity of luxuries?

The soldiers became desperate. 'We were absolutely, literally starved,' noted Private Joseph Martin in his diary. After four days without food, he gnawed a piece of black birch bark off a stick. Then, 'I saw several of the men roast their old shoes and eat them.

Epictetus's core claim: We are all hostages of fortune in some way or other.

The sense of being at home in the world through social connection with others is a deep and pervasive Stoic theme. Stoicism, whether ancient or modern, sees social supports and not just inner strength as critical to how we surmount rather than succumb to adversity.

Epictetus opens the Encheiridion with that dichotomy of control: "Some things are up to us and some are not up to us . . . If is one of those things that is not up to us, be ready to say, 'You are nothing in relation to me.

Overcoming skeptics is still a skill that innovators need.

it's good to know where you want to be, but sometimes you have to go in the opposite direction to get there.

In this vale of tears we must take what we're sent, feathery, leathery, lovely or bent.

When people whom trouble is not a problem find themselves in a predicament, they are woefully unprepared... I, however, considered myself a professional.

We all have our personal Andes.

I tell them I am not at peace in spite of what I suffered, but because of it.

We were playing a game against an unknown and unforgiving opponent. The stakes were terrible—play well or die—but we didn't even know the ground rules.

We understood, intuitively, that no one in this awful place could be judged by the standards of the ordinary world.

The mountain was teaching me a hard lesson: camaraderie is a noble thing, but in the end death is an opponent each of us would face in solitude.

If you run from enemy fire, I'll make you wash dishes for the rest of your life!

We have lots of ups and downs, pleasures and pains, but that's life and we learn to accept the bad with the good. Without the bad times, we wouldn't appreciate the good times.

It is hard now, very hard, but the difficulty is familiar.

Sometimes it's good to go to war, just to know you can

She can't afford to afford to look weak, not at a time like this.

Nothing worse has happened to him than to anyone. There is no reason for him to be afraid, no more reason than any other man.

Shikataganai, desho

Radical acceptance is to know that painful things are still going to happen, but how we respond makes a difference. We don't have to condone our current reality, but we have to accept it for what it is instead of staying stuck, wishing it were different.

The third prescription had even less effect in lifting my depression than the first two and had done nothing but increase my anger and feeling of hopelessness.