Quotes about adversity

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

— Francis Bacon

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

— H.K. Barclay

We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.

— Henry Ward Beecher

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

— Henry Ward Beecher

It's easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top.

— Arnold Bennet

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

— Taylor Benson

They that sow in tears shall reap joy. [Psalms 126:5]

— Bible

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.

— Bible

Enter through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to damnation is wide, the road is clear, and many choose to travel it. But how narrow is the gate that leads to life, how rough the road, and how few there are who find it. [Mathew 7:13-14]

— Bible

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

— Bible

Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist -- it reduces him to his fighting weight.

— Josh Billings

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

— Anne Bradstreet

Just because Fate doesn?t deal you the right cards, it doesn?t mean you should give up. It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential.

— Les Brown

Anytime you suffer a setback or disappointment, put your head down and plow ahead.

— Les Brown

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

— William C. Bryant

Trials, temptations, disappointments -- all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the fiber of character but strengthen it. Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

— James Buckham

Dust is a protective coating for fine furniture.

— Mario Burata

It is odd but agitation or contest of any kind gives a rebound to my spirits and sets me up for a time.

— Lord Byron

Adversity is the first path to truth.

— Lord Byron

Men stumble over pebbles, never over mountains

— Emilie Cady

Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.

— Thomas Carlyle

No pressure, no diamonds.

— Mary Case

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

— M Kathleen Casey

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.

— Oswald Chambers

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.

— Oswald Chambers

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

— Edwin Hubbel Chapin

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

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Do not free the camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.

— Jerry Chin

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.

— Bulgarian proverb

Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?

— Rose Kennedy

Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

— William Shakespeare

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation.

— Jean Kerr