Selected adversity quotes

1. Well, right now it seems that things are going very badly for me, have been doing so for some considerable time, and may continue to do so well into the future. But it is possible that everything will get better after it has all seemed to go wrong. I am not counting on it, it may never happen, but if there should be a change for the better I should regard that as a gain, I should rejoice, I should say, at last! So there was something after all!

2. Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

3. One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

4. Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.

5. Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.

6. Aren't I lucky, to have survived so much bad luck.

7. Woes cluster. Rare are solitary woes; They love a train, they tread each other's heel.

8. It is difficulties that show what men are.

9. The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.

10. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.

11. The Republic needed to be passed through chastening, purifying fires of adversity and suffering: so these came and did their work and the verdure of a new national life springs greenly, luxuriantly, from their ashes.

12. Poverty is uncomfortable; but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim.

13. One memory I have is there were a lot of dogs at this one place and my brother got in a horrific fight with a dog and the dog bit his toe off. They became fast friends after that. He lost a toe and gained a friend.

14. The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.

15. I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.

16. Being an optimist after you've got everything you want doesn't count.

17. No matter how bad things are, they can always be worse. So what if my stroke left me with a speech impediment? Moses had one, and he did all right.

18. Adversity does teach who your real friends are.

19. The moment when a man's head drops off is seldom or never, I am inclined to think, precisely the most agreeable of his life. Nevertheless, like the greater part of our misfortunes, even so serious a contingency brings its remedy and consolation with it, if the sufferer will but make the best, rather than the worst, of the accident which has befallen him.

20. Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.

21. Unjust attacks on public men do them more good than unmerited praise.

22. The greatest works of admiration, And all the fair examples of renown. Out of distress and misery are grown.

23. I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.

24. No pressure, no diamonds.

25. 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.

26. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.

27. There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.

28. Men do not change; they unmask themselves.

29. Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.

30. Difficulty is a severe instructor, set over us by the supreme ordinance of a parental Guardian and Legislator, who knows us better than we know ourselves, as he loves us better too... He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

31. A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.

32. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.

33. 'He who knows no hardships will know no hardihood. He who faces no calamity will need no courage. Mysterious though it is, the characteristics in human nature which we love best grow in a soil with a strong mixture of troubles. '

34. He who would valiant be against all disaster; Let him in constancy Follow the Master. There's no discouragement Shall make him once relent; His first avowed intent To be a pilgrim.

35. The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.

36. Thy spirit, Independence, let me share, Lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye. Thy steps I follow with my bosom bare, Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.

37. Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito.

38. A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

39. There is in every true 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.

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

41. The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar. p.314

42. The wind always seems to blow against catchers when they are running.

43. In every adversity of fortune, to have been happy is the most unhappy kind of misfortune.

44. Back, n. That part of your friend which it is your privilege to contemplate in your adversity.

45. I owe much to my friends; but, all things considered, it strikes me that I owe even more to my enemies. The real person springs to life under a sting even better than under a caress.

46. The world will not greet you with open arms, but with a clenched fist.

47. There is no education like adversity.

48. In the no-nonsense school of adversity, which we did not choose for ourselves, we are learning how to operate a labor union.

49. Character is the virtue of hard times.

50. 'See you and me, have a better time than most can dream. Have it better than the best, so can pull on through. Whatever tears at us... whatever holds us down, and if nothing can be done, well make the best of whats around'

51. I'm sorry to say so But, sadly it's true That bang-ups and hang-ups Can happen to you.

52. Il faut de plus grandes vertus pour soutenir la bonne fortune que la mauvaise.

53. Dans l'adversite de nos meilleurs amis, nous trouvons toujours quelque chose qui ne nous deplait pas.

54. Il arrive quelquefois des accidents dans la vie d'ou il faut etre un peu fou pour se bien tirer.

55. Nothing would more contribute to make a man wise than to have always an enemy in his view.

56. History and experience tells us that moral progress cannot come in comfortable and in complacent times, but out of trial and out of confusion.

57. At first I was almost about to despair, I thought I never could bear it - but I did I bear it. The question remains: how?

58. A talent is formed in stillness, a character in the world's torrent.

59. Were I laid on Greenland's Coast, And in my Arms embrac'd my Lass; Warm amidst eternal Frost, Too soon the Half Year's Night would pass.

60. The school of suffering tempers the spirit, the arena of combat strengthens the soul.

61. I thank Thee first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth because it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed.

62. To have a right estimate of a man's character, we must see him in misfortune.

63. The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

64. Hope, like the gleaming taper's light, Adorns and cheers our way; And still, as darker grows the night, Emits a brighter ray.

65. We sometimes had those little rubs which Providence sends to enhance the value of its favors.

66. The wind is rising...we must attempt to live.

67. Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.

68. Vous avez des ennemis? Mais c'est l'histoire de tout homme qui a fait une action grande ou cree une idee neuve. C'est la nuee qui bruit autour de tout ce qui brille. Il faut que la renomme ait des ennemis comme il faut que la lumiere ait des moucherons. Ne vous en inquietez pas, dedaignez! Ayez la serenite dans votre esprit comme vous avez la limpidite dans votre vie.

69. was ihn nicht umbringt, macht ihn starker

70. The Rose that Grew from Concrete (2000)