Overcoming Adversity Quotes

“You’ll learn, as you get older, that rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never, ever apologize for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path. Laugh in the face of adversity, and leap before you look. Dance as though EVERYBODY is watching. March to the beat of your own drummer. And stubbornly refuse to fit in.”
― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

“I am more than my scars.”
― Andrew Davidson, The Gargoyle

“Well, if it can be thought, it can be done, a problem can be overcome,”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly,

“(I)f you do not believe that hearts can bloom suddenly bigger, and that love can open like a flower out of even the hardest places, then I am afraid that for you the road will be long and brown and barren, and you will have trouble finding the light.
But if you do believe, then you already know all about magic.”
― Lauren Oliver, Liesl & Po

“The music of hope is everywhere, but to hear it, you need to ignore the muddy jangle of life's hassles.”
― Christine M Knight, Life Song

“I can’t cry so I have to laugh.”
― Maria Nhambu, Africa's Child

“It was not the privileged and the fortunate who took in the Jews in France. It was the marginal and damaged, which should remind us that there are real limits to what evil and misfortune can accomplish. If you take away the gift of reading, you create the gift of listening. If you bomb a city, you leave behind death and destruction. But you create a community of remote misses. If you take away a mother or a father, you cause suffering and despair. But one time in ten, out of that despair rises as indomitable force. You see the giant and the shepherd in the Valley of Elah and your eye is drawn to the man with sword and shield and the glittering armor. But so much of what is beautiful and valuable in the world comes from the shepherd, who has more strength and purpose than we ever imagine.”
― Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

“Beautiful souls are shaped by ugly experiences.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

“Some fish love to swim upstream. Some people love to overcome challenges.”
― Amit Ray, Walking the Path of Compassion

“I heard someone say once that many of us only seem able to find heaven by backing away from hell. And while the place that I've arrived at in my life may not precisely be everyone's idea of heavenly, I could swear sometimes -- I hear angels sing.”
― Carrie Fisher

“Time has always been the greatest ally to Truth, because Time eventually relieves and reveals all.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“A new challenge keeps the brain kicking and the heart ticking.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly,

“You are the shoal upon which I have shipwrecked my life...”
― S.V. Farnsworth, Monarch in the Flames

“Obsessing over what is wrong will not invite what is right. Dwelling in darkness keeps us from embracing the light. ⁠”
― Anthon St. Maarten

“In normal families love flows from parents to their kids. But that’s not how it felt in my family. As kids we were the ones who did the loving. Swallowing our needs came at a psychological cost. The river is not meant to flow up the mountain.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“I closed my eyes and wished the way I felt in that moment, lucky and loved, could last forever.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“IT’S A CHOICE

Try as we might; neither I nor anyone else can change the past. Yet, our history does not have to hold us hostage. We can’t change things said and done to us, nor can we undo and change what we have done to others. There is no do-over, unfortunately. What we can choose to do, however, is grow and take ownership of our mistakes and share our history and experiences to heal ourselves and others. We can also choose to forgive ourselves and others, and we can also choose to use our experiences to raise ourselves while giving hope and inspiration to others. We can choose to grow from adversity, and we can choose to let go of victimhood.

And that is what I decided to do when I left prison, here and in my book. I choose to own it all – the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I choose to let it all go and use my story as both a cautionary tale and a source of inspiration.”
― Sonny Von Cleveland, Hey White Boy: Conversations of Redemption

“Always in the back of my mind a question burned. Was this it? Was this the moment I handed down the legacy and scarred them for life?”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“He seemed oblivious to the heat, though the back of his yellow t-shirt was darkened with sweat. This was how he wanted us to be. No mistakes. No fumbles. No feeling.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“Sometimes I wished I could just hate Dad. But mostly it felt easier to believe I hated him rather
than face up to the fact that, despite everything, I had spent my life loving him, longing for him,
while he had barely even noticed I was alive.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“If all the bruises and pain Dad had marked me with over the years formed a permanent stain,
people like Moustache Man might shut the hell up about what a great father I had.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“Though I was sure she’d never noticed it, I had spent my whole life doing what I could to protect her. I didn’t know if she could survive without me. I didn’t know who I would be if she no longer needed me to stand guard.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“It felt like someone had waved a magic wand over my life, wiping out the mother I had known
before. I wasn’t sure which one was the dream – the person she had been when Dad was living
with us, or the one she was now.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“He drained her of self worth: death by a thousand cuts. Snide little comments, rolling eyes and always that tone in his voice, the one that told her how worthless she was.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“I felt my throat ache and knew it was her sadness I swallowed down”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“I told myself fear would not control me and searched for ways to prove to myself I was the one who held the power.”
― Ruth Clare

“People could see whatever they wanted to see on the outside, but if they scratched the surface they would find I too pulsed with dangerous power. This was my secret. This was my weapon. This was what would get me through.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“Every good trait has its shadow side.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“Akathisia's stygian abyss, where immeasurable restlessness tears the matrix of the psyche apart, is where beauty, love, and resilience find their most resolute expression. Even though Akathisia makes the body a puppet to an unseen puppeteer and the soul a vessel adrift in turbulent seas, human strength is the ability to find grace amidst chaos, cultivate love in desolate landscapes, and summon resilience in the face of despair and deterioration. Thus, amid mental and physical anguish, humanity's indomitable spirit transforms suffering into a crucible that yields a transcendent understanding of beauty, love, and the will to overcome. We become wise, compassionate, and resilient through suffering in this crucible.”
― Jonathan Harnisch

“Impostor Times by Stewart Stafford

When dark forces mask your eyes
Happiness, a distant beacon dream
Hope approaches your warming fire
Enjoy a toast, before flavours teem

Each pillar of truth, now a traitor to you
Motherland cut in mercenary march
Bonfires of blood in purification rage
Cuckoos in the nest, gloat in the larch

Rebel droplets, merge into roaring flood
Abort the tyrant's myriad bastard heirs
Expel the puppets to the unyielding sea
Birthplace restored as the patriot dares

© Stewart Stafford, 2024. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford