Diseases can be our spiritual flat tires — disruptions in our lives that seem to be disasters at the time but end by redirecting our lives in a meaningful way. – Bernie S. Siegel
We do survive every moment, after all, except the last one. – John Updike
Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel. – Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1909
A problem is a chance for you to do your best. – Duke Ellington
Suffering is above, not below. And everyone thinks that suffering is below. And everyone wants to rise. – Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections
Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. – O. Henry, The Gifts of the Magi
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain…. [A]ccept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields…. – Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
Difficulties were opportunities inside out, she assured herself… – Gwen Davis, Marriage, 1981
Convert difficulties into opportunities, for difficulties are divine surgeries to make you better. – Author unknown
The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities. – Sophocles
Have the courage to face a difficulty lest it kick you harder than you bargained for. – Stanislaus I, Maxims
Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. – Robert Service
Sometimes I think my life would make a great TV movie. It even has the part where they say, “Stand by. We are experiencing temporary difficulties.” – Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. – Rainer Maria Rilke
Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive. – Josephine Hart
Yes, one must suffer, even in vain, so as not to have lived in vain. – Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
There is no ghost so difficult to lay as the ghost of an injury. – Alexander Smith
