Albert Einstein:

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.

Albert Schweitzer:

Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they even roll a few more upon it.

Anne Bradstreet:

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.

Corita Kent:

Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore, each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each, is to succeed.

David Halverstam:

Bart Giamatti did not grow up (as he had dreamed) to play second base for the Red Sox. He became a professor at Yale, and then, in time . . . president of the National Baseball League. He never lost his love for the Boston Red Sox. It was as a Red Sox fan, he later realized that human beings are fallen, and that life is filled with disappointment. The path to comprehending Calvinism in modern America, he decided, begins at Fenway Park.

Denise Levertov:

Affliction is more apt to suffocate the imagination than to stimulate it.

Dorothy Parker:

As only New Yorkers know, if you can get through the twilight, you'll live through the night.

George Washington:

Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

Goethe:

Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal.

Helen Keller:

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

James Russell Lowell:

Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.

Jane Jacobs:

Being human is itself difficult, and therefore all kinds of settlements (except dream cities) have problems.

John Quincy Adams:

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu:

But the fruit that can fall without shaking
Indeed is too mellow for me.

M. Scott Peck:

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.

Madame de Stael:

The mystery of existence is the connection between our faults and our misfortunes.

Mark Twain:

December is the toughest month of the year. Others are July, January, September, Aprll, November, May, March, June, October, August, and February.

Maya Lin:

To fly, we have to have resistance.

Norbert Capek:

It is worthwhile to live
and fight courageously
for sacred ideals.

This entry continued ...

Rainer Maria Rilke:

For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Can anybody remember when the times were not hard and money not scarce?

Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Can anybody remember when the times were not hard and money not scarce?

Ralph Waldo Emerson (probably erroneously):

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.

Scott Alexander:

All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.

Stephen Sigmund:

Learn wisdom from the ways of a seedling. A seedling which is never hardened off through stressful situations will never become a strong productive plant.

Theodore Dreiser:

If I were personally to define religion I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made bloody by circumstance.

(attributed)

Thomas Jefferson:

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.

Thomas Paine:

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.

William Ellery Channing:

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.

Winston Churchill:

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.