Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotations on Adversity

In adversity, remember to keep an even mind.
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet

Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.
Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist

Suffering is above, not below. And everyone thinks that suffering is below. And everyone wants to rise.
Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet

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.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American Poet, Journalist

Of all the advantages which come to any young man, I believe it to be demonstrably true that poverty is the greatest.
Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) American Editor, Novelist

Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They’re what make the instrument stretch—what makes you go beyond the norm.
Cicely Tyson (1924–2021) American Model, Actress

Live as brave men and face adversity with stout hearts.
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath

The proof of gold is fire.
Common Proverb

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbow’d.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Lies but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) English Poet, Critic, Editor

The same reason makes a man a religious enthusiast that makes a man an enthusiast in any other way: an uncomfortable mind in an uncomfortable body.
William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist

Any port in a storm.
Common Proverb

Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure. Problems … create our courage and wisdom.
M. Scott Peck (1936–2005) American Psychiatrist, Author

The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation.
Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State

No man is more unhappy than the one who is never in adversity; the greatest affliction of life is never to be afflicted.
Unknown

Prosperity tries the fortunate, adversity the great.
Pliny the Younger (c.61–c.112 CE) Roman Senator, Writer

The brightest crowns that are worn in heaven have been tried, and smelted, and polished, and glorified through the furnaces of tribulation.
Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet

Humanity either makes, or breeds, or tolerates all its afflictions.
H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker

In a dark time, the eye begins to see.
Theodore Roethke (1908–63) American Poet

Justice should remove the bandage from her eyes long enough to distinguish between the vicious and the unfortunate.
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–99) American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic

In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends
John Churton Collins (1848–1908) English Literary Critic

Some people as a result of adversity are sadder, wiser, kinder, more human. Most of us are better, though, when things go better. Knowing when to keep your mouth shut is invariably more important than opening it at the right time. Always listen to a man when he describes the faults of others. Often times, most times, he’s describing his own, revealing himself.
Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson

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.
Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist

Who hath not known ill-fortune, never knew himself, or his own virtue.
David Mallet (c.1705–1765) Scottish Poet, Dramatist

I sometimes react to making a mistake as if I have betrayed myself. My fear of making a mistake seems to be based on the hidden assumption that I am potentially perfect and that if I can just be very careful I will not fall from heaven. But a ‘mistake’ is a declaration of the way I am, a jolt to the way I intend, a reminder I am not dealing with the facts. When I have listened to my mistakes I have grown.
Hugh Prather (b.1938) American Christian Author, Minister, Counselor

As there is no worldly gain without some loss, so there is no worldly loss without some gain.—If thou hast lost thy wealth, thou hast lost some trouble with it.—If thou art degraded from thy honor, thou art likewise freed from the stroke of envy.—If sickness hath blurred thy beauty, it hath delivered thee from pride.—Set the allowance against the loss and thou shaft find no loss great.—He loses little or nothing who reserves himself.
Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet

We are always in the forge, or on the anvil by trials God is shaping us for higher things.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer

It is better to drink of deep griefs than to taste shallow pleasures.
William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist

Difficulties are things that show what men are.
Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher

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