Strength in Words: A Curated Collection of Inspiring Quotes for Hard Times

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it."

- Maya Angelou

"If you're going through hell, keep going."

- Winston Churchill

"Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

- Christopher Robin

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

- Helen Keller

"If you’re going through hell, keep going."

- Winston Churchill

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."

- Albert Camus

"Do not pray for an easy life; pray for the strength to endure a difficult one."

- Bruce Lee

"Tough times never last, but tough people do."

- Robert Schuller

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently."

- Maya Angelou

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying 'I will try again tomorrow.'"

- Mary Anne Radmacher

"You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world's problems at once but don't ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own."

- Michelle Obama

"You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle."

- Christian D. Larson

"And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about."

- Haruki Murakami

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward."

- Rocky Balboa

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good."

- Elizabeth Edwards

"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Never give in. Never, never, never."

- Winston Churchill

"No one escapes pain, fear, and suffering. Yet from pain can come wisdom, from fear can come courage, from suffering can come strength – if we have the virtue of resilience."

- Eric Greitens

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life."

- J.K. Rowling

"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny."

- C.S. Lewis

"It’s not whether you get knocked down. It’s whether you get up."

- Vince Lombardi

"No one escapes pain, fear, and suffering. Yet from pain can come wisdom, from fear can come courage, from suffering can come strength - if we have the virtue of resilience."

- Eric Greitens

"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have."

- Cayla Mills

"The human capacity for burden is like bamboo - far more flexible than you'd ever believe at first glance."

- Jodi Picoult

"We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all."

- Emily Dickinson

"Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you've lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that's good."

- Elizabeth Edwards

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

- Confucius

"Life doesn't get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient."

- Steve Maraboli

"You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

- Marcus Aurelius

"The best way out is always through."

- Robert Frost

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."

- Kahlil Gibran

"There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.' No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful the experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster."

- 14th Dalai Lama

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey."

- Kenji Miyazawa

"Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit."

- Napoleon Hill

"You may not always have a comfortable life, and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once, but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own."

- Michelle Obama

"All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."

- Walt Disney

"I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars."

- Og Mandino

"A good half of the art of living is resilience."

- Alain de Botton

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop."

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That's the only way to keep the roads clear."

- Greg Kincaid

"Turn your wounds into wisdom."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare."

- Angela Duckworth

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."

- Marie Curie

"Grief and resilience live together."

- Michelle Obama

"Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is."

- Anne Frank

"What helps you persevere is your resilience and commitment."

- Roy T. Bennett

"It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed."

- Doe Zantamata

"Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

"Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity."

- Lou Holtz

"Storms make trees take deeper roots."

- Dolly Parton

"It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others."

- 14th Dalai Lama

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail."

- Nelson Mandela

"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people."

- Randy Pausch

"If you're feeling low, don't despair. The sun has a sinking spell every night, but it comes back up every morning. The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."

- Dolly Parton

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need."

- Lao Tzu

"The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived."

- Robert Jordan

"Resilience isn't a single skill. It's a variety of skills and coping mechanisms. To bounce back from bumps in the road as well as failures, you should focus on emphasizing the positive."

- Jean Chatzky

"Hard times build determination and inner strength. Through them we can also come to appreciate the uselessness of anger."

- Dalai Lama

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"And one has to understand that braveness is not the absence of fear but rather the strength to keep on going forward despite the fear."

- Paulo Coelho

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

- Albert Einstein

"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials."

- Chinese Proverb

"Make up your mind that no matter what comes your way, no matter how difficult, no matter how unfair, you will do more than simply survive. You will thrive in spite of it."

- Joel Osteen

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."

- Thomas A. Edison

"On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail and begin."

- Gregory S. Williams

"Anyone can give up; it is the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone would expect you to fall apart, now that is true strength."

- Chris Bradford

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

- Napoleon Hill

"Resilience is based on compassion for ourselves as well as compassion for others."

- Sharon Salzberg

"We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice."

- Stephen Covey

"Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

- Nelson Mandela

"Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you."

- Ovid

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it."

- Helen Keller

"Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed."

- Bob Riley

"Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths."

- Drew Barrymore

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."

- Dale Carnegie

"Resilience is very different than being numb. Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt. You fall. But, you keep going."

- Yasmin Mogahed

"Listen to the people who love you. Believe that they are worth living for even when you don’t believe it. Seek out the memories depression takes away and project them into the future. Be brave; be strong; take your pills. Exercise because it’s good for you even if every step weighs a thousand pounds. Eat when food itself disgusts you. Reason with yourself when you have lost your reason."

- Andrew Solomon

"We all have battles to fight. And it's often in those battles that we are most alive: it's on the frontlines of our lives that we earn wisdom, create joy, forge friendships, discover happiness, find love, and do purposeful work."

- Eric Greitens

"Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear."

- George Addair

"If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it."

- Michael Jordan

"Successful people demonstrate their resilience through their dedication to making progress every day, even if that progress is marginal."

- Jonathan Mills

"No matter how bleak or menacing a situation may appear, it does not entirely own us. It can't take away our freedom to respond, our power to take action."

- Ryder Carroll

"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough."

- Og Mandino

"Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn so that we see ourselves as we really are."

- Arthur Golden

"I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

- Helen Keller

"I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions."

- Stephen R. Covey

"When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this—you haven't."

- Thomas A. Edison

"Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths."

- Drew Barrymore

"Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."

- Michael Jordan

"Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create."

- Roy T. Bennett

"We must meet the challenge rather than wish it were not before us."

- William J. Brennan, Jr.

"You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages."

- Michelle Obama

"Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing."

- Emma Donoghue

"If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means, keep going."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint’, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced."

- Vincent van Gogh

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional."

- Roger Crawford

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."

- Louisa May Alcott

"Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong."

- Sarah Dessen

"Where there is no struggle, there is no strength"

- Oprah

"My strength did not come from lifting weights. My strength came from lifting myself up when I was knocked down."

- Bob Moore

"Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are."

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

"You must bear losses like a soldier, the voice told me, bravely and without complaint, and just when the day seems lost, grab your shield for another stand, another thrust forward. That is the juncture that separates heroes from the merely strong."

- Margaret George

"I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong... I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles."

- Audrey Hepburn

"The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them."

- Bernard Baruch

"My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has actually made me better equipped to face the present."

- Steve Goodier

"Never say that you can't do something, or that something seems impossible, or that something can't be done, no matter how discouraging or harrowing it may be; human beings are limited only by what we allow ourselves to be limited by: our own minds. We are each the masters of our own reality; when we become self-aware to this: absolutely anything in the world is possible."

- Mike Norton

"The difference between a strong man and a weak one is that the former does not give up after a defeat."

- Woodrow Wilson

"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ’Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death."

- Thomas Paine

"Hard times may have held you down, but they will not last forever. When all is said and done, you will be increased."

- Joel Osteen

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places."

- Ernest Hemingway

"Like tiny seeds with potent power to push through tough ground and become mighty trees, we hold innate reserves of unimaginable strength. We are resilient."

- Catherine DeVrye

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."

- Christopher Reeve

"When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience."

- Jaeda DeWalt

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."

- Henry Ford

"Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong."

- Muhammad Ali

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right."

- Henry Ford

"If you believe it will work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you believe it won’t, you will see obstacles."

- Wayne Dyer

"Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better."

- Jim Rohn

"In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on."

- Robert Frost

"Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

- John Wooden

"However long the night, the dawn will break."

- African Proverb

"Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward."

- Oscar Wilde

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

- William Samuel Johnson

"Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

"Confidence, courage and determined spirit are vital for surviving hard times."

- Lailah Gifty Akita

"One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered."

- Michael J. Fox

"Resilience is the ability to attack while running away."

- Wes Fessler

"Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings; it’s something we make inside ourselves."

- Corrie ten Boom

"Strong people alone know how to organize their suffering so as to bear only the most necessary pain."

- Emil Dorian

"It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setbacks."

- Bob Richards

"Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew."

- Cicely Tyson

"Only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly."

- Robert F. Kennedy

"The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal."

- Criss Jami

"Hard times don't create heroes. It is during the hard times when the 'hero' within us is revealed."

- Bob Riley

"The kind of beauty I want most is the hard-to-get kind that comes from within: strength, courage, and dignity."

- Ruby Dee

"My barn having burned down, I can now see the moon."

- Mizuta Masahide

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

- John Wooden

"the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

- J.K. Rowling

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."

- Randy Pausch

"It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure."

- Joseph Campbell

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it."

- Charles R. Swindoll

"Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain."

- Vivian Greene

"Difficult roads always lead to beautiful destinations."

- Zig Ziglar

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."

- Wayne Dyer

"You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you."

- James Allen

"It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe."

- Muhammad Ali

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."

- George Eliot

"We all have battles to fight. And it’s often in those battles that we are most alive: it’s on the frontlines of our lives that we earn wisdom, create joy, forge friendships, discover happiness, find love, and do purposeful work."

- Eric Greitens

"Energy and persistence conquers all things."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Let perseverance be your engine and hope your fuel."

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

"Life is at its best when everything has fallen out of place, and you decide that you’re going to fight to get them right, not when everything is going your way and everyone is praising you."

- Thisuri Wanniarachchi

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."

- Henry Ford

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you."

- Walt Whitman

"The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests."

- Epictetus

"It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog."

- Mark Twain

"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor."

- Truman Capote

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness, that is life."

- Jean-Luc Picard

"I learned there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead, others come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready, you see. Now my troubles are going to have trouble with me."

- Dr. Seuss

"I will breathe. I will think of solutions. I will not let my worry control me. I will not let my stress level break me. I will simply breathe. And it will be okay. Because I don’t quit."

- Shayne McClendon

"The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity."

- Seneca

"We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity."

- Barbara de Angelis

"You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice."

- Bob Marley

"Nothing is more beautiful than the smile that has struggled through the tears."

- Demi Lovato

"Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings…it’s something we make inside ourselves."

- Corrie ten Boom

"Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up."

- Rocky Balboa

"We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided."

- J.K. Rowling

"The hard times that you go through build character, making you a much stronger person."

- Rita Mero

"Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly."

- Neil Gaiman

"I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value."

- Hermann Hesse

"She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails."

- Elizabeth Edwards

"All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me…. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."

- Walt Disney

"He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions."

- Louisa May Alcott

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."

- Chuck Swindoll

"Fall seven times, stand up eight."

- Japanese Proverb

"If you feel like giving up, give up on that feeling and give into the realization there are endless possibilities waiting to be discovered before you."

- Tom Althouse

"Every adversity, every failure and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit."

- Napoleon Hill

"Some knowledge is too heavy...you cannot bear it...your Father will carry it until you are able."

- Corrie ten Boom

"It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way, even by death, and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment."

- Bram Stoker

"Right in the difficult we must have our joys, our happiness, our dreams: there against the depth of this background, they stand out, there for the first time we see how beautiful they are."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy."

- Leo Buscaglia

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself-and be lenient to everybody else."

- Henry Ward Beecher

"A problem is a chance for you to do your best."

- Duke Ellington

"Don’t be afraid of hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don’t let others discourage you or tell you that you can’t do it. In my day I was told women didn’t go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn’t."

- Gertrude B. Elion

"It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort. And when you bring that effort every single day, that’s where transformation happens. That’s how change occurs."

- Jillian Michaels

"Sometimes you have to let go of the picture of what you thought life would be like and learn to find joy in the story you are actually living."

- Rachel Marie Martin

"By the darkness, stars are revealed."

- Evette Carter

"One ceases to recognize the significance of mountain peaks if they are not viewed occasionally from the deepest valleys."

- Dr. Al Lorin

"Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there."

- Robert Downey Jr.

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."

- Edmund Hillary

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending."

- Carl Bard

"The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity."

- Ulysses S. Grant

"If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces."

- Shane Koyczan

"I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse."

- Florence Nightingale

"Leaders can let you fail and yet not let you be a failure."

- Stanley McChrystal

"Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day."

- Alice Morse Earle

"Going through challenging things can teach you a lot, and they also make you appreciate the times that aren't so challenging."

- Carrie Fisher

"I have no regrets in my life. I think that everything happens to you for a reason. The hard times that you go through build character, making you a much stronger person."

- Rita Mero

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength."

- Corrie ten Boom

"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."

- Malcolm S. Forbes

"Hard times are sometimes blessings in disguise. We do have to suffer but in the end it makes us strong, better and wise."

- Anurag Prakash Ray

"Innovation distinguishes from a leader and a follower."

- Steve Jobs

"Staying positive does not mean that things will turn out okay. Rather it is knowing that you will be okay no matter how things turn out."

- Garth Ennis

"Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it."

- Jacques Prévert

"Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems."

- Gever Tulley

"Do or do not. There is no try."

- Yoda

"Sometimes you learn, grow, and give far more when your back's against the wall."

- Rasheed Ogunlaru

"Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict."

- William Ellery Channing

"The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work."

- Harry Golden

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…"

- Dr. Seuss

"Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved."

- Jane Goodall

"Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Attitude-flexibility is the mentality that helps us to smoothly persevere through turbulent times."

- Dr. Jacinta Mpalyenkana

"It is a blessing to experience hardship. Not because we suffer, but because we learn to endure."

- Saim A. Cheeda

"Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be."

- Zig Ziglar

"Ring the bells that still can ring forget your perfect offering there is a crack in everything that's how the light gets in"

- Leonard Cohen

"Now and then for no good reason a man can figure out, life will just haul off and knock him flat, slam him agin’ the ground so hard it seems like all his insides is busted. But it’s not all like that... When you start lookin’ around for something good to take the place of the bad, as a general rule you can find it."

- Jim Coates

"Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."

- Joshua J. Marine

"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change."

- Stephen Hawking

"A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure."

- Henry Kissinger

"Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing."

- L.M. Montgomery

"When written in Chinese the word “crisis” is composed of two characters – one represents danger and the other represents opportunity."

- John F. Kennedy

"Don’t let the bastards grind you down."

- Margaret Atwood

"There is neither happiness nor unhappiness in this world; there is merely the comparison of one state to the other. Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss."

- Alexandre Dumas

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have."

- Frederick Keonig

"Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen."

- Conan O'Brien

"Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever."

- Zahid Abas

"And hard times are good in their own way, too. Because the only way you can achieve true happiness is if you experience true sadness as well. It’s all about light and shade. Balance."

- Gabrielle Williams

"There is meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"And hard times are good in their own way, too. Because the only way you can achieve true happiness is if you experience true sadness as well. It's all about light and shade. Balance."

- Gabrielle Williams

"It's a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack."

- Germany Kent

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."

- Michael Jordan

"Speak softly and carry a big stick."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance, Never settle for the path of least resistance."

- Lee Ann Womack

"Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich."

- Jim Carrey

"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world."

- Robin Williams

"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it."

- Anne Lamott

"If you know you are on the right track, if you have this inner knowledge, then nobody can turn you off… no matter what they say."

- Barbara McClintock

"If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude."

- Maya Angelou

"Some say the glass is half empty, some say the glass is half full, I say, are you going to drink that?"

- Lisa Claymen

"If I create from the heart, nearly everything works: if from the head, almost nothing."

- Marc Chagall

"When you go through something, like, you learn to appreciate little things - the birds, trees, flowers."

- Grizz Chapman

"Hire character. Train skill."

- Peter Schutz

"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and again and bring their friend."

- Walt Disney

"If something is wrong, fix it now. But train yourself not to worry, worry fixes nothing."

- Ernest Hemingway

"If you can tune into your purpose and really align with it, setting goals so that your vision is an expression of that purpose, then life flows much more easily."

- Jack Canfield

"Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity."

- Coco Chanel

"Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."

- Carl Sagan

"A proud heart can survive general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone."

- Chinua Achebe

"You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Once you’ve accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you."

- George R.R. Martin

"If the wind will not serve, take to the oars."

- Latin proverb

"Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the Earth."

- William Faulkner

"Unless someone like you care a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not."

- Dr. Seuss

"For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you."

- Neil deGrasse Tyson

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

- Anne Frank

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."

- Henry David Thoreau

"Imitation is suicide."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings."

- Salvador Dali

"Be the attitude you want to be around."

- Tim DeTellis

"Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it."

- Roald Dahl

"I realize there’s something incredibly honest about trees in winter, how they’re experts at letting things go."

- Jeffrey McDaniel

"I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done."

- Lucille Ball

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did."

- Mark Twain

"The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are. They are frank in admitting this and are willing to pay for such talents."

- Antos Parrish

"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit."

- Conrad Hilton

"You be greater than your feelings. I don’t demand this of you—life does. Otherwise, you’ll be washed away by feelings. You’ll be washed out to sea and never seen again."

- Philip Roth

"How many times do I have to teach you: just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved."

- Shuri

"If you light a lamp for someone else, it will also brighten your path."

- Buddha

"Be undeniable."

- Ralphie May

"Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path then by all means you should follow that."

- Ellen DeGeneres

"It’s easy to solve a problem that everyone sees, but it’s hard to solve a problem that almost no one sees."

- Tony Fadell

"You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it."

- Charles Buxton

"You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

- Jack London

"Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination."

- Benjamin Disraeli

"It's your outlook on life that counts. If you take yourself lightly and don't take yourself too seriously, pretty soon you can find the humor in our everyday lives. And sometimes it can be a lifesaver."

- Betty White

"If you hit the target every time, it’s too near or too big."

- Tom Hirshfield

"We can’t take any credit for our talents. It’s how we use them that counts."

- Madeleine L'Engle

"There is no greater disability in society than the inability to see a person as more."

- Robert M. Hensel

"Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day."

- Dalai Lama

"If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six sharpening my axe."

- Abraham Lincoln

"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

- Confucius

"Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

- Saint Francis

"Humor and joy are skills, not the luck of the draw."

- C. W. Metcalf

"The future depends on what you do today."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction."

- George Lorimer

"Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more."

- Nikola Tesla

"There is only one way to avoid criticism. Do nothing. Be nothing. Say nothing."

- Aristotle

"Either you run the day or the day runs you."

- Jim Rohn

"Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."

- Robert Louis Stevenson

"Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly."

- Stephen R. Covey

"When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too."

- Paulo Coelho

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

- Thomas Edison

"No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse."

- Randy Pausch

"If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it."

- Olin Miller

"Fulfillment isn’t found over the rainbow—it’s found in the here and now. Today I define success by the fluidity with which I transcend emotional landmines and choose joy and gratitude instead."

- RuPaul

"The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground."

- Author Unknown

"The people that you work with are, when you get down to it, your very best friends."

- Michael Scott

"When you focus on the good, the good gets better."

"We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."

"Storms don’t last forever."

"Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value."

"I am strong because I’ve been weak. I am fearless because I’ve been afraid."

- Unknown

"At some point you just have to let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening."

"Every time you are able to find some humor in a difficult situation, you win."

"Remember that guy that gave up? Neither does anyone else."

- Unknown

"No rain, no flowers."

"Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome."

"Life is like a box of chocolates, but sometimes you keep getting the ones filled with toothpaste."

"Navigating life is like trying to fold a fitted sheet. No one really knows how, but we all pretend we do."

"Life’s like trying to plug in a USB. It never goes right on the first try, or the second, or the third…"

"If you think you're too small to make a difference, you've never been in bed with a mosquito."

"I asked life for a sign. It gave me a stop sign. I’m not sure how to proceed."

"If life had background music, mine would be the sound of a trombone playing ‘womp womp’."

"I walk around like everything’s fine, but deep down, inside my shoe, my sock is sliding off."