The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Resilience
But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.
Ernest Hemingway The Old Man and the Sea · 1952

Quotes

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”

Steve Jobs · Smithsonian Oral and Video Histories: Steve Jobs, 1995 · Primary source

“As in a game of cards, so in the game of life, we must play what is dealt to us, and the glory consists, not so much in winning, as in playing a poor hand well.”

Josh Billings · Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things, 1868 · Primary source

“Life starts in the sea. There it attains to an extraordinary efficiency. The fishes give rise to types which are so successful (such for instance as the sharks) that they have lasted on unchanged until to-day. The path of ascending evolution did not however lie in this direction. In Evolution Dr. Inge’s aphorism is probably always right: ‘Nothing fails likes success.’ A creature which has become perfectly adapted to its environment, an animal whose whole capacity and vital force is concentrated and expended in succeeding here and now, has nothing left over with which to respond to any radical change. Age by age it becomes more perfectly economical in the way its entire resources meet exactly its current and customary opportunities. In the end it can do all that is necessary to survive without any conscious striving or unadapted movement. It can therefore beat all competitors in the special field but equally on the other hand should that field change it must become extinct. It is this success of efficiency which seems to account for the extinction of an enormous number of species. Climatic conditions altered. They had used up all their resources of vital energy in adapting to things as they were. Like unwise virgins they had no oil left over for further adaptations. They were committed, could not readjust and so they vanished.”

Gerald Heard · The Source of Civilization, 1935 · Primary source

“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”

Ernest Hemingway · A Farewell to Arms, 1929 · Primary source

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.”

Marie Curie · Madame Curie: A Biography, 1938 · Secondary source

“The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth.”

Albert Einstein · Ideas and Opinions , 1954 · Primary source

“In my life I had come to realize that when things were going very well indeed it was just the time to anticipate trouble. And, conversely, I learned from pleasant experience that at the most despairing crisis, when all looked sour beyond words, some delightful break was apt to lurk just around the corner.”

Amelia Earhart · Last Flight, 1937 · Primary source

“One loses everything when one loses one’s sense of humor.”

Ayn Rand · The Fountainhead, 1943 · Primary source

“Grace under pressure.”

Ernest Hemingway · The Artist’s Reward, 1929 · Secondary source

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”

Ernest Hemingway · The Old Man and the Sea, 1952 · Primary source

“The courage, the unconquerable grit and stamina of our people, showed itself from the very outset. Without that all would have failed. Upon that rock, all stood unshakable.”

Winston Churchill · You do your worst—and we will do our best, 1941 · Primary source

“Sometimes life’s gonna hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.”

Steve Jobs · Stanford Commencement Address, 2005 · Primary source

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.”

Theodore Roosevelt · The Strenuous Life, 1900 · Primary source

“Hope makes a good breakfast. Eat plenty of it.”

Ian Fleming · From Russia, with Love, 1957 · Primary source

“True conquest is the causing the calamity to fade and disappear, as an early cloud of insignificant result in a history so large and advancing.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Circles, 1841 · Primary source

“Any system of government will work when everything is going well. It’s the system that functions in the pinches that survives.”

John F. Kennedy · Why England Slept, 1940 · Primary source

“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names.”

Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1849 · Primary source

“Patience serves us against insults precisely as clothes do against the cold. For if you multiply your garments as the cold increases, that cold cannot hurt you; in the same way increase your patience under great offences, and they cannot hurt your feelings.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“Be of good cheer. Do not think of today’s failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.”

Helen Keller · The Story of My Life, 1903 · Primary source

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”

Winston Churchill · No reliable source

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Winston Churchill · No reliable source

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Winston Churchill · No reliable source

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Winston Churchill · No reliable source

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · No reliable source

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · No reliable source

“Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world.”

Helen Keller · No reliable source

“A bend in the road is not the end of the road… Unless you fail to make the turn.”

Helen Keller · No reliable source

Works

Helen Keller · 1903
Optimism

An essay on optimism as a practical outlook, examining how hope, effort and social progress can coexist with suffering and adversity.

Read summary·Explore 7 quotes
Helen Keller · 1957
The Open Door

A collection of Keller’s writings on faith, optimism, adversity, human possibility and the search for meaning in everyday life.

Read summary·Explore 1 quotes

Related Tags

Self-reliance 49 Simplicity 35 Purpose 31 Mortality 30 Perseverance 29 Responsibility 27 Courage 25 Perspective 21 Uncertainty 20 Character 20 Persistence 19 Effort 18 Adaptation 17 Truth 16 Opportunity 15 Achievement 15 Beauty 14 Self-control 13 Failure 12 Hope 12 Human potential 10 Agency 10 Adaptability 9 Optimism 9 Kindness 8 Humour 7 Adversity 7 Endurance 7 Success 7 Patience 7 Change 7 Practical judgement 6 Renewal 6 Acceptance 6 Specialisation 5 Composure 5 Self-command 5 Dignity 5 Determination 5 Mistakes 5 Crisis 5 Personal responsibility 5 Defiance 4 Pessimism 4 Entrepreneurship 4 Growth 4 Faith 4 Setbacks 3 Civil defence 3 Hardship 3 Recovery 3 Ideals 2 Good fortune 2 Evolution 2 Resourcefulness 2 Enthusiasm 2 Self-confidence 2 Encouragement 2 Institutional stability 2 Obstacles 2 Spirituality 2 Extinction 1 Self-possession 1 Stamina 1 Collective resolve 1 Learning from experience 1 Forward movement 1 Striving 1 Inner strength 1 Letting go 1 Political institutions 1 Governance 1 Insults 1 Emotional discipline 1 Self-pity 1 Constructive action 1 Human progress 1 Social responsibility 1 Human possibility 1