Quotes About Adversity

If he had known how many men in history have had to use a hill to die on it would not have cheered him any for, in the moment he was passing through, men are not impressed by what has happened to the other men in similar circumstances any more than a widow of one day is helped by the knowledge that other loved husbands have died.

For sale: baby shoes, never used.

It must be most dangerous then to be a man. It is indeed, madame, and but few survive it. ? Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon (Zinc Read, February 21, 2023) Originally publishedJanuary 1, 1932

If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

It made him feel as a wound does that you think you cannot bear. But you can bear anything, he thought.

I wonder why he jumped, the old man thought. He jumped almost as though to show me how big he was. I know now, anyway, he thought. I wish I could show him what sort of man I am. But then he would see the cramped hand. Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so. I wish I was the fish, he thought, with everything he has against only my will and my intelligence.

The old man's head was clear and good now and he was full of resolution but he had little hope. It was too good to last, he thought. He took one look at the great fish as he watched the shark close in.

I knew how severe I had been and how bad things had been. The one who is doing his work and getting satisfaction from it is not the one who poverty bothers.

We are stronger in our broken places.

If the wind rises it can push us against the flood when it comes.

It is easy when you are beaten, he thought. I never knew how easy it was.

Here's the reason why the peasant is wise. He's wise because he's beaten from the very start. Give him power and then you'll see how wise he is.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.

The road of the pass was hard and smooth and not yet dusty in the early morning.

Nobody climbs on skis now and almost everybody breaks their legs but maybe it is easier in the end to break your legs than to break your heart although they say that everything breaks now and that sometimes, afterwards, many are stronger at the broken places. I do not know about that now but this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy.

To hell with them. Nothing hurts if you don't let it.

THE GAMBLER,THE NUN & THE RADIO Do you have bad luck with all games? With everything and with women. He smiled again, showng his bad teeth. Truly? -Truly And what is there to do? -Continue, slowly, and wait for luck to change.

It was an hour before the first shark hit him.

But, then, nothing is easy.

Damn my fish,' the boy said and he started to cry again.

The colonel breakfasted with the leisure of a fighter who has been clipped badly, hears four, and knows how to relax truly for five seconds or more.

It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

In a snowstorm it always seemed, for a time, as though there were no enemies.

Do you want to keep your knee, young man?' 'No', I said. 'What?' 'I want it cut off,' I said, 'so I can wear a hook on it.