Quotes About Adversity

Donde una puerta se cierra, otra se abre. 'Where a door is closed, another is opened.' – From Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

I was not born for death and yet I have died a thousand times, he thought. And now I am born again for these hard times.

If that animal claims not to be frightened, then that animal is a liar. The real hero is the animal who fights even though scared. That is courage. There can be no courage without fear.

All this stuff about serving and stations. We are all the same now. There are no stations, no nests, no hollows. We're all orphans. We've all seen horrible things. The world is different now. And part of that difference is that there is no difference between any of us.

Even if we die, if we have to become monsters and everyone hates us, we have to read the book because it will teach us how to avoid the alligator's jaws, the wolves who wait in the forest, the huge snakes, and how to become birds.

Never trouble trouble, till trouble troubles you

knew better than to assume a straight shot at happiness: If we see a light at the end of the tunnel, he said, it's the light of an oncoming train.

Eventually, the depression went away of its own accord, but only long enough for it to regroup and mobilize for the next attack.

Two other patients were waiting for their doctors, which only added to my sense of indignity and embarrassment at finding myself with the roles reversed--character building, no doubt, but I was beginning to tire or all the opportunities to build character at the expense of peace, predictability, and a normal life.

I continue to have concerns about my decision to be public about my illness, but one of the advantages of having had manic-depressive illness for more than thirty years is that very little seems insurmountably difficult. Much like crossing the Bay Bridge when there is a storm over the Chesapeake, one may be terrified to go forward, but there is no question of going back.

when I was told either to lower my sights or to rein in my enthusiasms

the beast was best handled by turning it toward the sun.

character building, no doubt, but I was beginning to tire of all the opportunities to build character at the expense of peace, predictability, and a normal life.

before you can conquer a beast you first must make it beautiful.

Much like crossing the Bay Bridge when there is a storm over the Chesapeake, one may be terrified to go forward, but there is no question of going back.

There was a fine-tuning of Richard's and my temperaments during the years we lived with his heart disease, lymphoma, and lung cancer. Before, our differences had triggered sporadic tension; now our basic natures served us better. Our sensibilities and quirks evolved into something more shared and complex, more mingled.

Failure: the renewable resource.

Even in climes/without snow/one cannot go/foward sometimes./Things test you./You are part of/the Donners or/part of the rescue:/a muleteer in/earflaps; a/formerly hearty/Midwestern farmer/perhaps. Both/parties trapped/within sight/of the pass.

took me a long time to learn that mistakes aren't good or bad, they're just mistakes, and you clean them up and go on.

Its was one of those events which at a crucial stage in one's development arrive to challenge and stretch one to the limit of one's ability and beyond, so that thereafter one has a new standard by which to judge oneself.

A man who aspires to rise above the mediocre, to be something more than the ordinary, surely deserves admiration, even if he fails and loses a fortune on account of his ambitions (...) if one has failed only where others have not had the courage or will to try, there is consolation - indeed, deep satisfaction - to be gained from his observation when looking back over one's life. #Page no.134

It's nonsense to believe people go on loving each other regardless of what happens.

If disappointments do come, you will carry on still. You will say, just as he does, I am so lucky.

For indeed, a man who aspires to rise above the mediocre, to be something more than ordinary, surely deserves admiration, even if in the end he fails and loses a fortune on account of his ambitions.