Adversity Quotations

Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.

In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.

We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't.

Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.

It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.

Good actions are a guard against the blows of adversity.

When adversity strikes, that's when you have to be the most calm. Take a step back, stay strong, stay grounded and press on.

A rebirth out of spiritual adversity causes us to become new creatures.

Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out.

Tribulation will not hurt you, unless as it too often does; it hardens you and makes you sour, narrow and skeptical

If you ask me why I've succeeded, it's because I was in the Royal Marines. You have this unbelievable sense of achievement and of overcoming adversity. That's the confidence it breeds.

Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.

Very often out of adversity that's when the best work comes.

Everyone is handed adversity in life. No one's journey is easy. It's how they handle it that makes people unique.

To me, obstacles in life build character. You have to be able to overcome adversity in order to succeed and appreciate the simple things life has to offer... that's where most of my inspiration for writing and singing comes from.

The moment we believe that success is determined by an ingrained level of ability as opposed to resilience and hard work, we will be brittle in the face of adversity.

Three hundred years ago a prisoner condemned to the Tower of London carved on the wall of his cell this sentiment to keep up his spirits during his long imprisonment: 'It is not adversity that kills, but the impatience with which we bear adversity.'

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Weak minds sink under prosperity as well as adversity; but strong and deep ones have two high tides.

The overcoming of adversity and, ultimately, denying it the rite of passage, has been a constant and perpetual motive throughout my life.

As years passed away I have formed the habit of looking back upon that former self as upon another person, the remembrance of whose emotions has been a solace in adversity and added zest to the enjoyment of prosperity.

I have definitely gone through my ups and downs and faced my adversity and my nay-sayers, but managed to do all right. It is a pretty classic tale.

Firmness in enduring and exertion is a character I always wish to possess. I have always despised the whining yelp of complaint and cowardly resolve.

Remember the great adversity of art or anything else is a hurried life.

The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it.

The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.

I learned to take those experiences that were difficult in my life and in the adversity that I had overcome to use it for a positive change.

I used to hurt so badly that I'd ask God why, what have I done to deserve any of this? I feel now He was preparing me for this, for the future. That's the way I see it.

Adversity is a great teacher, but this teacher makes us pay dearly for its instruction; and often the profit we derive, is not worth the price we paid.

For in all adversity of fortune the worst sort of misery is to have been happy.

I learned to put 100 percent into what you're doing. I learned about setting goals for yourself, knowing where you want to be and taking small steps toward those goals. I learned about adversity and how to get past it.

One thing about championship teams is that they're resilient. No matter what is thrown at them, no matter how deep the hole, they find a way to bounce back and overcome adversity.

A high heart ought to bear calamities and not flee them, since in bearing them appears the grandeur of the mind and in fleeing them the cowardice of the heart.

I think really what I'm saying is that I thrive on adversity.

There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.

When the world is in the midst of change, when adversity and opportunity are almost indistinguishable, this is the time for visionary leadership and when leaders need to look beyond the survival needs of those they're serving.

Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.

You find out your mistakes from an audience that pays admission.

Something called 'the Oklahoma Standard' became known throughout the world. It means resilience in the face of adversity. It means a strength and compassion that will not be defeated.

I personally have dealt with any adversity in my life with humor. That's why I told America to 'Read my hips!' on 'Dancing With the Stars' or was happy to play along with Jason Alexander and Jerry Seinfeld in the great restaurant scene on 'Seinfeld.'

A prosperous state makes a secure Christian, but adversity makes him Consider.

For a lot of people, Superman is and has always been America's hero. He stands for what we believe is the best within us: limitless strength tempered by compassion, that can bear adversity and emerge stronger on the other side. He stands for what we all feel we would like to be able to stand for, when standing is hardest.

In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.

I believe that if ever I had to practice cannibalism, I might manage if there were enough tarragon around.

I was raised never to carp about things and never to moan, because in vaudeville, which is my background, you just got on with it through all kinds of adversities.

Those who kept their sanity and humanity intact in the face of awful adversity. Heroes named and unnamed, some known only to God.

Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it.

All personal achievement starts in the mind of the individual. Your personal achievement starts in your mind. the first step is to know exactly what your problem, goal or desire is. If you're not clear about this, then write it down, and rewrite it until the words express precisely what you are after. Every disadvantage has an equivalent advantage - if you'll take the trouble to find it. Learn to do that and you'll kick the stuffing out of adversity every time.

By adversity are wrought the greatest works of admiration, and all the fair examples of renown, out of distress and misery are grown.

I really believe in the old expression that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It's through adversity that you find the strength you never knew you had.

Everything that I've ever been able to accomplish in skating and in life has come out of adversity and perseverance.

Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen.

One thing that I don't think my critics realize about me is that I've been trained to look adversity in the face.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.

I'm somebody who finds adversity is almost as good as encouragement. It's almost like, you close the door, and I'll find ten ways to kick it in and go around it or dig under it or something.

It is often better to have a great deal of harm happen to one than a little; a great deal may rouse you to remove what a little will only accustom you to endure.

It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity

The only good thing about times of adversity is that you realize who your real friends and fans are - and the rest go away - which in my mind is an OK thing.

The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.

Turning pro is a mindset. If we are struggling with fear, self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt, etc., the problem is, we're thinking like amateurs. Amateurs don't show up. Amateurs crap out. Amateurs let adversity defeat them. The pro thinks differently. He shows up, he does his work, he keeps on truckin', no matter what.

There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.

Through tattered clothes, small vices do appear. Robes and furred gowns hide all.

Someone said adversity builds character, but someone else said adversity reveals character. Im pleasantly surprised with my resilience. I persevere, and not just blindly. I take the best, get rid of the rest, and move on, realizing that you can make a choice to take the good.

I was bullied and picked on because I was so different to everyone else, and I definitely didn't believe or even know I was fabulous back then. But those hard times made me everything I am today. It's all water under the bridge now, but being bullied and going through adversity definitely made me stronger.

I work best when there is adversity: I seem to get calmer the more the fur is flying.

You'll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.

You may live in an imperfect world but the frontiers are not closed and the doors are not all shut.

There's a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out.

If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.

Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.

As a lifelong practitioner of martial arts, I'm trained to remain calm in the face of adversity and danger.

He knows not his own strength who hath not met adversity.

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this.

The eagle has no fear of adversity. We need to be like the eagle and have a fearless spirit of a conqueror!

A lot of people think I had such a rosy career, but I wanted to identify that one of the things that helps you have a long career is learning how to deal with adversity, how to get past it. Once I learned how to get through that, others things didn't seem so hard.

You never know how a horse will pull until you hook him to a heavy load.

Problems are the price you pay for progress.

Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose.

At key crossroads in his life, Vernon Davis has continued to make a conscious choice to grow as a person and player. His determination through adversity since his childhood days is commendable.

Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.

I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn't of much value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them.

I want to be a role model and I want to show kids that you can be strong and overcome adversity.

The difficulties which I meet with in order to realize my existence are precisely what awaken and mobilize my activities, my capacities.

A man is insensible to the relish of prosperity until he has tasted adversity.

Of course, losing my father was traumatic. I was an only child. But from the time my father died, my general theme in life has been to turn adversity into opportunity.

My fiction is almost always inspired by a character's need or desire to rise above him- or herself. No one is perfect and some of us have much adversity in our lives; it is those people who struggle to rise above their nature or background that I find the most interesting and heroic.

One likes people much better when they're battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.

Individually and collectively, Cherokee people possess an extraordinary ability to face down adversity and continue moving forward.

I got in trouble with the police, and that was a rude awakening. That was it. I'd seen the bottom of the pit, and it was time to scrape myself out of it.

People that are brilliant and successful, we think they've just always been that way. That's not the case. Most of them have had some tough adversity in their life. It's prepared them. I've never felt like you could develop character without adversity.

As long as you keep getting born, it's alright to die some times.

You may not know it, but at the far end of despair, there is a white clearing where one is almost happy.

Friendship, of itself a holy tie, is made more sacred by adversity.

It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish

I think that everything you do helps you to write if you're a writer. Adversity and success both contribute largely to making you what you are. If you don't experience either one of those, you're being deprived of something.

The very greatest things - great thoughts, discoveries, inventions - have usually been nurtured in hardship, often pondered over in sorrow, and at length established with difficulty.

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider.