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Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents that would otherwise have lain dormant.
Horace (Roman poet) – see Horace: Image, Identity, and Audience (see other works by and about Horace )
I have come to believe that the force behind all existence, which I, like many others, call God, is infinitely loving and infinitely giving, but at the same time a ruthless taskmaster, a teacher who will literally stop at nothing to raise our consciousness. One of the ways he seems to do this is by confronting us with certain experiences that so baffle our sensibilities, so destroy our old beliefs, that we are brought to our knees like the rubble of a building that has collapsed. At this crucial point, a kind of rebirth, a transformation, can and often does take place: it is the start of a new life.
from Living Well Naturally, by Anthony J Sattilaro
Dance in the body you have.
Agnes DeMille, author of Dance to the Piper and Promenade Home
You could cry, get worried or angry like any other normal human being, as long as you remembered that, up above, your spirit was laughing out loud at all those thorny situations.
from Veronika Decides to Die , by Paulo Coelho(see other works by Paulo Coelho )
What was hard to bear is sweet to remember.
Portuguese proverb – see A Dictionary of English and Portuguese Equivalent Proverbs (see other Portuguese proverbs )
Some things cannot be spoken or discovered until we have been stuck, incapacitated, or blown off course for a while. Plain sailing is pleasant, but you are not going to explore many unknown realms that way. We articulate the truth of a situation by carrying the whole experience in the voice and allowing the process to blossom of its own accord. Out of the cross-grain of experience appears a voice that not only sums up the process we have gone through, but allows the soul to recognize in its timbre, the color, texture, and complicated entanglements of being alive.
from The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, by David Whyte
When we accept tough jobs as a challenge to our ability and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen.
Arland Gilbert
I wept because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet.
Ancient Persian saying – see One Thousand & One Persian-English Proverbs: Learning Language and Culture Through Commonly Used Sayings (see other Persian proverbs )
So whatever the situation, look at it like a classroom that your Higher Self chose to put you in. And remember that you did so because you had confidence you would succeed in the end. Even though danger can be daunting, all peril gives us an opportunity to build spiritual muscles.
Peace Mother Geeta Sacred Song
History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.
BC Forbes
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 (1929-1968) American Civil Rights Leader – see A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr and I Have a Dream ﾖ 40th Anniversary Edition: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World (see other works by and about Martin Luther King )
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English Novelist – see The Friendly Dickens: Being a Good-Natured Guide to the Art and Adventures of the Man Who Invented Scrooge and Charles Dickens Four Complete Novels (Great Expectations, Hard Times, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities) (see other works by Charles Dickens )
If you are going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill – see Never Give In: The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches and the audio cassette Churchill in His Own Voice (see other works by and about Winston Churchill )
You can’t take it with you – and that includes debt.
Annie Zalezsak
The sages do not consider that making no mistakes is a blessing. They believe, rather, that the great virtue of man lies in his ability to correct his mistakes and continually make a new man of himself.
Wang Yang-Ming
Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
Henry Ford (1863-1947) American Industrialist, author of My Life and Work 1922 (see other works about Henry Ford )
The highest reward for man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.
John Ruskin (1819-1900). See Unto This Last and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) .
Despite some of the horrors and barbarisms of modern life which appall and grieve us, life has - or has the potential of - such richness, joy and adventure as were unknown to our ancestors except in their dreams.
Arthur Holly Compton (1892-1962) American physicist. See Scientific Papers of Arthur Holly Compton: X-Ray and Other Studies and Biography - Compton, Arthur Holly (1892-1962) .
Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.
Mary Hemingway
One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
Sigmund Freud – see The Ego and the Id (The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud) (see also other work by and about Sigmund Freud )
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French philosopher. See The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert .
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant.
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet – see The Complete Odes and Satires of Horace (see other works by and about Horace )
The unendurable is the beginning of the curve of joy.
Djuna Barnes, author of Nightwood
Identify your problems, but give your power and energy to solutions.
Anthony Robbins, author of Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! (see other works by Anthony Robbins )
It is when the well's dry, that we know the worth of the water.
Benjamin Franklin – see The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Dover Thrift Editions)
Identify your problems, but give your power and energy to solutions.
Anthony Robbins, see also Live with Passion! : Stategies for Creating a Compelling Future (see other works by Anthony Robbins )
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.
Washington Irving (1783-1859) American writer – see The Complete Tales of Washington Irving and other works by Washington Irving
Man has never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.
Bernard Williams, English philosopher
One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
Sigmund Freud – see Civilization and Its Discontents (see also other work by and about Sigmund Freud )
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.
Chinese proverb (see other Chinese proverbs )
The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.
M Scott Peck (see books by M Scott Peck )
Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.
Napolean Hill (see books by Napolean Hill )
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 (see more about Michael Jordan )
The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.
Ernest Hemingway (see works by Ernest Hemingway )
Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.
Joseph Campbell
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