Sayings about Adversity
Adversity is the foundation of virtue. ~ Japanese Proverbs
In times of prosperity friends will be plenty, in times of adversity not one in twenty. ~ English Proverbs
Not everything, which is bad, comes to hurt us. ~ Italian Proverbs
It is prosperity that gives us friends, adversity that proves them. ~ Traditional Proverb
I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders. ~ Jewish Proverb
A stout heart tempers adversity. ~ Dutch Proverbs
God gave burdens, also shoulders. ~ Yiddish Proverb
Bad is never good until worse happens. ~ Danish Proverbs
Adversity comes with instruction in his hand. ~ Welsh Proverb
Adversity and loss make a man wise. ~ Welsh Proverbs
Happiness is like a sunbeam, which the least shadow intercepts, while adversity is often as the rain in the spring. ~ Chinese Proverb
Advise and counsel him; if he does not listen, let adversity teach him. ~ Ethiopian Proverb
In prosperity caution, in adversity patience. ~ Dutch Proverb
Adversity makes a man wise, not rich. ~ Romanian Proverbs
Adversity flatters no man. ~ English Proverb
Quotations about Adversity
If you want a place in the sun, you’ve got to expect a few blisters. ~ Abigail van Buren
Convert difficulties into opportunities, for difficulties are divine surgeries to make you better. ~ Author unknown
There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with. ~ Harry Crews
The difficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter. ~ Author Unknown
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. ~ William Hazlitt
Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course. ~ William Shakespeare Quotes
Turn your wounds into wisdom. ~ Oprah Winfrey Quotes
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. ~ Taylor Benson
Adversity introduces a man to himself. ~ Author Unknown
There are some defeats more triumphant than victories. ~ Michel de Montaigne
A new wound makes all the old ones ache again. ~ Mignon McLaughlin
Count the garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall. Count your life with smiles and not the tears that roll. ~ Author Unknown
It is foolish to tear one’s hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness. ~ Cicero
If you’re in a bad situation, don’t worry it’ll change. If you’re in a good situation, don’t worry it’ll change. ~ John A. Simone, Sr.
The darkest hour has only sixty minutes. ~ Morris Mandel
When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. ~ Author Unknown
Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist — it reduces him to his fighting weight. ~ Josh Billings
A bad grade is only one letter in the Essay of life. ~ Lee Drake
You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity. ~ Barbara De Angelis
God brings men into deep waters, not to drown them, but to cleanse them. ~ John Aughey
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
Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed. ~ Natalie Clifford Barney
Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out. ~ Edwin Markham
There’s a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out. ~ Lou Reed
Sometimes it’s worse to win a fight than to lose. ~ Billie Holiday
The spiritual path is not strewn with roses. ~ Haridas Chaudhuri
[L]ook evil in the face; walk up to it, and you will find it less than you imagined, and often you will not find it at all; for it will recede as you advance. ~ Sydney Smith
Don’t let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life. ~ Author Unknown
We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, “Why did this happen to me?” unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way. ~ Author Unknown
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
Watch a man in times of… adversity to discover what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off. ~ Lucretius
Tragedy is restful: and the reason is that hope, that foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it. ~ Jean Anouilh
There are times in everyone’s life when something constructive is born out of adversity... when things seem so bad that you’ve got to grab your fate by the shoulders and shake it. ~ Author Unknown
Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known. ~ Garrison Keillor
Earth’s tribulations diminish in proportion to the elevation of our souls. ~ James Lendall Basford
He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. ~ Edmund Burke
Don’t allow your wounds to turn you into a person you are not. ~ Author Unknown
Life didn’t promise to be wonderful. ~ Teddy Pendergrass
The virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude. ~ Francis Bacon
When you’re feeling your worst, that’s when you get to know yourself the best. ~ Leslie Grossman
It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it. ~ John Steinbeck
A man is insensible to the relish of prosperity ’til he has tasted adversity. ~ Saʿdī
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
Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us. ~ Voltaire
It’s not the tragedies that kill us, it’s the messes. ~ Dorothy Parker
You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity. ~ Walt Schmidt
The misfortunes of mankind are of varied plumage. ~ Aeschylus
The virtue of adversity is fortitude, which in mortals is the heroic virtue. ~ Francis Bacon
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. ~ Horace
If you haven’t had at least a slight poetic crack in the heart, you have been cheated by nature. ~ Phyllis Battelle
Adversity is the first path to truth. ~ Lord Byron
In most cases, misfortune is an acquired habit. ~ James Lendall Basford
In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. ~ Oscar Wilde Quotes
When you come to a roadblock, take a detour. ~ Mary Kay Ash
Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don’t have any problems, you don’t get any seeds. ~ Norman Vincent Peale
The cold is a good counselor, but it is cold. ~ Antonio Porchia
Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes. ~ Francis Bacon
Have the courage to face a difficulty lest it kick you harder than you bargained for. ~ Stanislaus I, Maxims
The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities. ~ Sophocles
It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis. ~ Margaret Bonnano
Poverty, Frost, Famine, Rain, Disease, are the beadles and guardsmen that hold us to Common Sense. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Whenever you fall, pick something up. ~ Oswald Avery
The brook would lose its song if you removed the rocks. ~ Fred Beck
The gem cannot be polished without friction nor man without trials. ~ Confucius
A problem is a chance for you to do your best. ~ Duke Ellington
It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed…. Great necessities call out great virtues. ~ Abigail Adams
The most important thing in life is not to capitalize on your gains. Any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your losses. ~ William Bolitho
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. ~ O. Henry
We acquire the strength we have overcome. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes
Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober; not to make us sorry but wise. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
No matter what has happened, always behave as if nothing had happened. ~ Arnold Bennett
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