Motivational Quotes

Adversity

Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. [Isaiah 48:10]

- Bible

Best Quotes about Adversity

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

Heraclitus

There is in every woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.

Irving, Washington

As a rule, adversity reveals genius and prosperity hides it.

Horace

Only entropy comes easy.

Mumford, Lewis

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning to sail my ship.

Alcott, Louisa May

When a man gets to despair he knows that all his thinking will never get him out. He will only get out by the sheer creative effort of God. Consequently he is in the right attitude to receive from God that which he cannot gain for himself.

Chambers, Oswald

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

Ford, Henry

The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved.

Smiles, Samuel

When I dig another out of trouble, the hole from which I lift him is the place where I bury my own.

10.

Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.

Johnson, Samuel

11.

Suffering! We owe to it all that is good in us, all that gives value to life; we owe to it pity, we owe to it courage, we owe to it all the virtues.

France, Anatole

12.

Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.

Horace

13.

We see many who are struggling against adversity who are happy, and more although abounding in wealth, who are wretched.

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

14.

The stars are constantly shining, but often we do not see them until the dark hours.

15.

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

Saadi

16.

If your cup seems too bitter, if your burden seems to heavy, be sure that it is the wounded hand that is holding the cup, and that it is me who carried the cross that is carrying the burden.

17.

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.

Post, Laurens Van du

18.

We need tough days to drive us to our knees.

19.

One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.

Gibran, Kahlil

20.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

Proverb, Chinese

21.

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.

Benson, Taylor

22.

Many who seem to be struggling with adversity are happy; many, amid great affluence, are utterly miserable.

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

23.

Nothing splendid was ever created in cold blood. Heat is required to forge anything. Every great accomplishment is the story of a flaming heart.

Glasgow, Arnold H.

24.

Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.

Ward, William A.

25.

God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.

Augustine, St.

26.

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.

Hill, Napoleon

27.

If the career you have chosen has some unexpected inconvenience, console yourself by reflecting that no career is without them.

Johnson

28.

There are three modes of bearing the ills of life, by indifference, by philosophy, and by religion.

Colton, Charles Caleb

29.

I would never have amounted to anything were it not for adversity. I was forced to come up the hard way.

Penney, J. C. (James Cash)

30.

It is not good for all our wishes to be filled; through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion, the value of rest.

Saying, Greek

31.

To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.

Epictetus

32.

Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness --a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster-children into strength and athletic proportion.

Bryant, William C.

33.

Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

Zwanzig, Carl

34.

When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better.

Forbes, Malcolm S.

35.

When walking through the valley of shadows, remember, a shadow is cast by a Light.

Barclay, H.K.

36.

Some people bear three kinds of trouble -- the ones they've had, the ones they have, and the ones they expect to have.

Hale, Edward Everett

37.

Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober; not to make us sorry but wise.

Beecher, Henry Ward

38.

Search for the seed of good in every adversity. Master that principle and you will own a precious shield that will guard you well through all the darkest valleys you must traverse. Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well, when they cannot be discerned from the mountaintop. So will you learn things in adversity that you would never have discovered without trouble. There is always a seed of good. Find it and prosper.

Mandino, Og

39.

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

Seneca

40.

Every man has a rainy corner of his life whence comes foul weather which follows him.

Richter, Jean Paul

41.

We say, sorrow, disaster, calamity. God says,chastening and it sounds sweet to him though it is a discord to our ears. Don't faint when you are rebuked, and don't despise the chastening of the Lord. In your patience possess your souls.

Chambers, Oswald

42.

The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived ideas. In the event, one is always bewildered by their simplicity, their grandeur of design, and by that element of the bizarre which seems inherent in them.

Cocteau, Jean

43.

Tough times never last, but tough people do.

Schuller, Robert H.

44.

Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, grow, grow.

Talmud, The

45.

The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

46.

The seaman tells stories of winds, the ploughman of bulls; the soldier details his wounds, the shepherd his sheep.

Propertius, Sextus

47.

It is in the gift for employing all the vicissitudes of life to one's own advantage and to that of one's craft that a large part of genius consists.

Lichtenberg, Georg C.

48.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

Nietzsche, Friedrich

49.

Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.

Winfrey, Oprah

50.

Failure is success if we learn from it.

Forbes, Malcolm S.