Quotes About Resilience

Even death was something Nora couldn't do properly. It was a familiar feeling. This feeling of being incomplete in just about every sense. An unfinished jigsaw of human. Incomplete living and incomplete dying.

And I stood up, again to help when I was supposed to hurt.

It was as though she had reached some state of acceptance about life – that if there was a bad experience, there wouldn't only be bad experiences.

was as though she had reached some state of acceptance about life – that if there was a bad experience, there wouldn't only be bad experiences. She realised that she hadn't tried to end her life because she was miserable, but because she had managed to convince herself that there was no way out of her misery.

And even if you were a pawn – maybe we all are – then you should remember that a pawn is the most magical piece of all. It might look small and ordinary but it isn't. Because a pawn is never just a pawn. A pawn is a queen-in-waiting. All you need to do is find a way to keep moving forward. One square after another. And you can get to the other side and unlock all kinds of power.

But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.

Because, Nora, sometimes the only way to learn is to live." "Sounds hard.

Stai calmo. Vai avanti. Resta umano. Continua a provarci. Continua a desiderare.

Depression is also . . . Smaller than you. Always, it is smaller than you, even when it feels vast. It operates within you, you do not operate within it. It may be a dark cloud passing across the sky, but—if that is the metaphor—you are the sky. You were there before it. And the cloud can't exist without the sky, but the sky can exist without the cloud.

Well, you can take that fire and put it in the ocean.

I mean, it would have made things a lot easier if we understood there was no way of living that can immunise you against sadness. And that sadness is intrinsically part of the fabric of happiness. You can't have one without the other.

People often use the word 'despite' in the context of mental illness. So-and-so did such-and-such despite having depression/anxiety/OCD/agoraphobia/whatever. But sometimes that 'despite' should be a 'because'. For instance, I write because of depression. I was not a writer before. The intensity needed - to explore things with relentless curiosity and energy - simply wasn't there.

I was a human being with human illnesses, which other humans have had—millions and millions of humans—and most of them had either overcome their illnesses or had somehow managed to live with them.

Stamina is essential to stay focused in a life filled with distraction

There was an invisible baton of failure her mother had passed down, and Nora had held it for a long time. Maybe that was why she had given up on so many things. Because she had it written in her DNA that she had to fail.

There was no way of living that could immunize you against sadness. And that sadness is intrinsically part of the fabric of happiness.

she had reached some state of acceptance about life – that if there was a bad experience, there wouldn't only be bad experiences. She realised that she hadn't tried to end her life because she was miserable, but because she had managed to convince herself that there was no way out of her misery

sometimes the only way to learn is to live.' 'Sounds hard.

Et surtout, les livres. Ils étaient, en eux même, une raison de rester en vie.

If we keep going in a straight line we'll get out of here. Walking one foot in front of the other, in the same direction, will always get you further than running around in circles. It's about the determination to keep walking forward. It's okay It's okay to be broken.

Nothing is stronger than a small hope that doesn't give up.

Understand, for instance, that having a sad thought, even having a continual succession of sad thoughts, is not the same as being a sad person. You can walk through a storm and feel the wind but you know you are not the wind.

You lose your job, then more shit happens.

Depressie is ook kleiner dan jij. Zij is altijd kleiner dan jij, zelfs al lijkt ze onmetelijk. Ze zit binnen in jou, niet andersom. Als een donkere wolk die overtrekt, maar - als dat de metafoor is- dan ben jij de lucht. Jij was er eerder. En een luchtloze wolk bestaat niet, maar een wolkeloze lucht wel.