Adversity quotes
1.4K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside adversity — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"What makes a hero? Courage, strength, morality, withstanding adversity? Are these the traits that truly show and create a hero? Is the light truly the source of darkness or vice versa? Is the soul a source of hope or despair? Who are these so called heroes and where do they come from? Are their origins in obscurity or in plain sight?"
"Sometimes a man is intensely, even passionately, attached to suffering — that is a fact."
"Remorse goes to sleep during a prosperous period and wakes up in adversity. [Fr., Le remords s'endort durant un destin prospere et s'aigrit dans l'adversite.]"
"In all distresses of our friends We first consult our private ends; While Nature, kindly bent to ease us, Points out some circumstance to please us."
"The courage to face the trials and to bring a whole new body of possibilities into the field of interpreted experience for other people to experience - that is the hero's deed."
"No man ought to lay a cross upon himself, or to adopt tribulation, as is done in popedom; but if a cross or tribulation come upon him, then let him suffer it patiently, and know that it is good and profitable for him."
"I refuse to let adversity allow me to be average."
"The winter's frost must rend the burr of the nut before the fruit is seen. So adversity tempers the human heart, to discover its real worth."
"He that lendeth to another in time of prosperity, shall never want help himself in the time of adversity."
"As it is pleasant to see the sea from the land, so it is pleasant for him who has escaped from troubles to think of them."
"The proof of gold is fire."
"One of the best ways to properly evaluate and adapt to the many environmental stresses of life is to simply view them as normal. The adversity and failures in our lives, if adapted to and viewed as normal corrective feedback to use to get back on target, serve to develop in us an immunity against anxiety, depression, and the adverse responses to stress. Instead of tackling the most important priorities that would make us successful and effective in life, we prefer the path of least resistance and do things simply that will relieve our tension, such as shuffling papers and majoring in minors."
"That thorny path, those stormy skies, have drawn our spirits nearer; and rendered us, by sorrow's ties, each to the other dearer."
"Quickly say, "That's good!" to every setback and adversity, and then find out what is good about it."
"But we must not suffer over the suffering."
"In the middle of adversity there is great opportunity."
"There have been a lot of hip-hop artists who have made a difference to people's lives, spreading the message of the struggle and representing for those who have overcome adversity."
"Sometimes in life, things happen that will knock you back. Hell, you may get beaten to your knees but you must never ALLOW this world to knock you down! Conjure up all the strength you have and drive through whatever it is keeping you on your knees. Build up the strength and your knees may never buckle again!"
"Nothing can be more touching than to behold a soft and tender female, who had been all weakness and dependence, and alive to every trivial roughness while treading the prosperous paths of life, suddenly rising in mental force to be the comforter and supporter of her husband under misfortune, and abiding with unshrinking firmness the bitterest blast of adversity."
"Everybody can have a bad game, and we did. These guys have all proven that they can handle adversity. We're in the midst of a little adversity."
