Quotes About Resilience

Look, I know it's a risk. But at some point, you have to jump. I'll either land on my feet or I'll land on my face. But either way, I'll own the fall.

Resolutely ignoring Banu's dark mutterings, steeling herself against the barrage of harsh words that questioned her motives, her upbringing, and her morality

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." —FLANNERY O'CONNOR "I

You see, I think he could've helped me... face what was to come later in my own life. He had the secret, see? The secret of loneliness. How to live with it, how to wrap it around your body and still be able to make beautiful, colorful things, like he did with those balloons. And he could've taught it to me, if only I'd asked.

you have to learn to look inside yourself. It's a new way of looking, to see the true you. The fire took away a lot, but it also left a lot behind. Do you understand?

Or perhaps it is that time doesn't heal wounds at all, perhaps that is the biggest lie of them all, and instead what happens is that each wound penetrates the body deeper and deeper until one day you find that the sheer geography of your bones - the angle of your head, the jutting of your hips, the sharpness of your shoulders, as well as the luster of your eyes, the texture of your skin, the openness of your smile - has collapsed under the weight of your griefs.

This solidarity business I used to talk about ain't just--what do you youngsters call it?--theoretical. It means putting your body, your physical self, on the line, baby girl. Even when--especially when--it ain't convenient.

unloved, educated or illiterate, wanted or unwanted by her parents, whether or not she suffered hurt and betrayal, or whether she still managed to retain her humanity and nobility? In the end, Bhima thinks, it doesn't matter. It is all ash and dust. This is what it means to be human, she thinks: grains of dust arranged in human form—some dark, some light, some tall, some short, some male, some female. And in the end, the same gust of wind breaks them all down.

Strength, beti. Be strong. Bibi turns tearfully toward her. "How, mausi?" she asks. "How? He was my rock. How do I learn to see the world through my own eyes?" Bhima falls silent, feeling acutely her own inadequacy. By breathing one breath at a time, she wants to say. By waking up one morning after another. By putting one foot ahead of the next, until your feet recall how to walk again.

Maybe, in the end, that's all that love was—doing the hard thing.

Or perhaps it is that time doesn't heal all wounds at all, perhaps that is the biggest lie of them all, and instead what happens is that each wound penetrates the body deeper and deeper until one day you find that the sheer geography of your bones - the angle of your head, the jutting of your hips, the sharpness of your shoulders, as well as the luster of your eyes, the texture of your skin, the openness of your smile - has collapsed under the weight of your griefs.

Hope, thin as a thread, sharp as a fishing line, cut into David's heart." p. 79

It is dark. But inside Bhima's heart, it is dawn.

time doesn't heal wounds at all,

what happens is that each wound penetrates the body deeper and deeper

And yet, despite the daily violence, Tehmina had marveled at the intimate way in which this tiny family huddled together around a small stove for their evening meals, had witnessed Parvati laughing as she lovingly combed her daughter's long hair, had registered the panicked look in Krishna's eyes when Parvati had taken ill with typhoid fever. Reality was complicated; Themina knew that. India had taught her that lesson, over and over again.

They had all worked so hard to forget what they'd left behind and to build a new life in America.

The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage.

They whose minds are least sensitive to calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet it, are the greatest men and the greatest communities.

We let ourselves be at the mercy of our thoughts and our thoughts at the mercy of our negative emotions, in this way we undermine ourselves. —A TIBETAN SAYING

Those who can mentally cope should also do the following

To be successful, we need a method whereby we can remain steadfast on our course.

If relapsed, meditate on it as the very remedy.

Do not be ill-tempered, regardless of how others treat you.