Hardship quotes

Hardship

166 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

166 quotes
Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins Musician, Writer, Actor

"Go without a coat when it's cold; find out what cold is. Go hungry; keep your existence lean. Wear away the fat, get down to the lean tissue and see what it's all about. The only time you define your character is when you go without. In times of hardship, you find out what you're made of and what you're capable of. If you're never tested, you'll never define you character."

Homer
Homer Poet

"It's disgraceful how these humans blame the gods. They say their tribulations come from us, when they themselves, through their own foolishness, bring hardships which are not decreed by Fate."

Explore further

Browse quotes that often appear alongside hardship — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.

Quote collection

Hardship quotes (page 1 of 9)

Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.

Friedrich Nietzsche Philosopher, Writer
Hardship

"Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves. It is to preserve the distance which separates us from other men. To grow more indifferent to hardship, to severity, to privation, and even to life itself."

Read quote 31 likes
J. K. Rowling Novelist, Screenwriter
Hardship

"Poverty entails fear and stress and sometimes depression. It means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships."

Read quote 15 likes
Anne Lamott Author, Essayist
Hardship

"When God is going to do something wonderful, He or She always starts with a hardship; when God is going to do something amazing, He or She starts with an impossibility."

Read quote 14 likes
Sheryl Sandberg Business Executive, Author
Hardship

"When companies offer support and assistance for personal and family hardships, their employees become more loyal and more productive."

Read quote 14 likes
Diogenes Philosopher
Hardship

"The noblest people are those despising wealth, learning, pleasure and life; esteeming above them poverty, ignorance, hardship and death."

Read quote 13 likes
Douglas Adams Writer, Humorist
Hardship

"As a result of all this hardship, dirt, thirst, and wombats, you would expect Australians to be a dour lot. Instead, they are genial, jolly, cheerful, and always willing to share a kind word with a stranger, unless they are an American."

Read quote 8 likes
Hardship

"Readers will share in the environs of the author and her characters, be taken into the hardship of a pitiless place and emerge on the other side — wiser, warier and weathered like the landscape."

Read quote 7 likes
Woodrow Wilson Politician
Hardship

"I have received delegations of working men who, apparently speaking with the utmost sincerity, have declared that they would regard it as a genuine hardship if they were deprived of their beer, for example."

Read quote 5 likes