Quotes About Adversity

Every time something bad happens to me, I don't ask the question, 'Why did it happen to me?' The question I ask is, 'Why did it happen for me?'

Life throws you curveballs and there are things that happen - you don't understand why they happened at the time. But then you step back and understand you're a better fighter and competitor because of the things that happened.

I have spoken honestly about being born into a home where there was discord and chaos. I saw my mom have a rough time with my dad being very controlling, which is why I push back whenever I feel like someone is trying to box me in. It makes me run for the hills.

When I wake up, I expect things to be good. If they're not, then I try to set about trying to make them as good as I can 'cause I know I'm gonna have to live that day anyway. So why not try to make the most of it if you can? Some days, they pan out a little better than others, but you still gotta always just try.

In all my work, I try to say - 'You may be given a load of sour lemons, why not try to make a dozen lemon meringue pies?'

Whether we fear pain and suffering or not, pain and suffering will come to everyone. Why not keep our minds focused on where we want to go?

A large amount of work has come to a standstill all around, so I thought why not just go for weight loss?

Nothing I did contributed to me having cancer, so I can't sit back and say, 'Oh why me.' Why not me? Why does tragedy always have to hit someone else?

My first day on the set of 'John Adams', I was just supposed to fly to Virginia for a costume fitting. But the director figured, why not shoot it, too? So they threw me into a dress that didn't fit, gave me lines I hadn't seen, in a dialect I didn't know, and two screaming, arching infants.

Why me? Why did this happen? How could I be in Westlife and then have nothing to show for it financially at the end of it? But it's like, why not me? That's just life. It's tough. There's a lot more problems in the world. There are a lot of people who would wish to God they had my problem instead of having a sick child.

Other great fighters like Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali have fallen to the canvas. Why not Julio Cesar Chavez?

It would be wrong to say I enjoy having rows, because that would be un-Christian. If people attack me, then I respond, or if they do very wicked things. Then they must be brought to book.

I am sure I ought not to be, but I have great reason to tremble lest Satan and my own wicked heart get the better of me. It is no easy matter to fight such enemies as these, but with Christ strengthening me, I know I shall come off more than a conquerer.

As a junior in high school, I had some injury problems with my arm and shoulder from baseball, so I didn't play quarterback as a junior. I played a little wide receiver, linebacker, and safety.

There will always be hard times. Use adversity to fuel your fire. In high school, I wanted to play quarterback but couldn't until I was a senior. I played wide receiver instead, and this ultimately helped me because I learned more about the game.

I actually work better within restrictions. When you leave everything wide open, things tend to get a little convoluted. So when you give me those restrictions and I start to use my brain creatively to work around those, that's when things get interesting.

In eighth grade, I was actually better in football. I played running back, wide receiver, and safety - just like Allen Iverson.

As a kid, I trained to be an Olympic gymnast. My schedule was rigorous. Four hours a day, Monday through Saturday, I was at the gym. My body was like a boy's, narrow hips, flat-chested, wide shoulders. When I was 12, I badly injured my ankle and was forced to stop training immediately.

When you are a tricky wide player, you are always used to tackles and challenges.

Many of my friends and family are scratching it out somewhere decidedly south of the ever widening gap between the haves and have nots, looking at losing their homes, colleges they can't afford and healthcare they can't avail themselves of.

Some of the most inspiring moments in sports have come from players with physical defects. Tom Dempsey, born without toes on his right foot, kicked a 63-yard field goal in 1970, using a straighter, wider shoe.

My mother had me when she was 15. My father died before I was born. So my mother was a teenage widow, and she used herself as her greatest example so I wouldn't end up in her position.

I have been a daughter, a bride, a mother, a divorcee, a widow, a single mother, a grandmother, a breadwinner, and, ultimately a survivor.

I used to have a Milton steel water bottle that I would wield like a hammer, almost! My answer to all my bullies was to take out my bottle and hit them.