Quotes About Adversity

God did not say, You will not be troubled, you will not be belabored, you will not be afflicted; but He said, You will not be overcome.

The alchemist of the West has turned stone into glass But my alchemy has transmuted glass into flint Pharaohs of today have stalked me in vain

But maybe, that's the point. That there are no guarentees. There are no happy endings. But you show up anyway. You don't give up. You NEVER give up. Maybe that's what it takes to be a HERO. -Billy Kaplan

Making clear that there could be a negative outcome—and that you are willing to do whatever is necessary—can not only get the other person's attention but also, in some cases, increase respect for you. Being willing to fight hard for what you believe in often engenders admiration.

My kids are tough," said Nina. He scoffed. "I work in Harvard Square. My art's been peed on.

Patienthood can become a way of life and rationale for people who are struggling for other reasons.

who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alleyways & firetrucks, not even one free beer

Personally I had the feeling as if I had fallen into an ocean of boiling water, and not knowing how to swim or get out in another manner, I tried with my legs and arms as best I could. I did not know what saved me; why I was not drowned or cooked alive. I have perhaps only one merit: I never gave up. But how could I give up in the middle of an ocean? ARNOLD SCHOENBERG IN 1947

Hit it back over the net, as the teachers use to say when getting us ready for school debates. The harder the shot coming toward you, the more power in your return.

A Gallagher Girl's real grades don't come in pass or fail—they're measured in life or death.

Pain, you must be everything for me. Let me find in you all those foreign lands you will not let me visit.

one needn't be born into a beautiful life in order to have one.

If you read fairy-tales carefully, you'll notice they are mostly about people who aren't heroes. They don't have special powers, or gifts. Often they are despised as stupid. They are bullied, beaten up, robbed, starved. But they find they are stronger than their misfortunes.

It's okay," I said, holding her, starting to cry myself. "It's not okay," said Jane. "But it's the way it is.

Friendship: A ship big enough for two in fair weather, but only one in foul.

optimism, n. The doctrine, or belief, that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong. It is held with greatest tenacity by those most accustomed to the mischance of falling into adversity, and is most acceptably expounded with disproof - an intellectual disorder, yielding to no treatment but death. It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.

CONSOLATION, n. The knowledge that a better man is more unfortunate than yourself.

MISFORTUNE, n. The kind of fortune that never misses.

Some deep disappointment in early life had soured its disposition, and it had declared war upon the whole world.

Like a plant that has struck its root into some poisonous mineral, my poor uncle was dying slowly upward.

Un hombre es como un árbol: En un bosque de sus iguales crecerá tan recto como su naturaleza individual y genérica lo permita; solo en campo abierto, cede a las tensiones y torsiones deformantes que lo rodean.

War had the effect of encouraging people to try to stay alive. Poverty, too. Survival was simply too hard-won to be given up lightly.

Joe Abercrombie

Yarvi: 'If we had known the hardship of it, we might have chosen another.' Shidwala: 'So it is with many choices.' Yarvi: 'All we can do now is see it through.' Shidwala: 'So it is with many choices.