Like a plant that starts up in showers and sunshine and does not know which has best helped it to grow, it is difficult to say whether the hard things or the pleasant things did me the most good. – Lucy Larcom
If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart. – Socrates
Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing sooner than of war. – Homer, Iliad
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. – Truman Capote
I smile when I look back at the troubles that have strengthened me. What seems to be insurmountable struggles then are now beautiful ornaments illuminating my soul. – Dodinsky, www.dodinsky.com
No man ought to lay a cross upon himself, or to adopt tribulation, as is done in popedom; but if a cross or tribulation come upon him, then let him suffer it patiently, and know that it is good and profitable for him. – Martin Luther
Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fragrance as before a storm. When a storm approaches thee, be as fragrant as a sweet-smelling flower. – Jean Paul Richter
Having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting, it may not be logical but it is often true. – Mr. Spock, Star Trek
Hardship is best sailed with a heart ship. – Terri Guillemets
The misfortunes of mankind are of varied plumage. – Aeschylus, The Suppliant Maidens
We must try not to sink beneath our anguish… but battle on. – J.K. Rowling
To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. – Bertrand Russell
Bygone troubles are good to tell. – Yiddish Proverb
The cold is a good counselor, but it is cold. – Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. – Winston Churchill
Let your joy scream across the pain. – Terri Guillemets
Poverty, Frost, Famine, Rain, Disease, are the beadles and guardsmen that hold us to Common Sense. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
If God asks that you bend, bend and do not complain. He is making you more flexible, and for this be thankful. – Terri Guillemets
Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist: it reduces him to his fighting weight. – Josh Billings
In our nature, however, there is a provision, alike marvelous and merciful, that the sufferer should never know the intensity of what he endures by its present torture, but chiefly by the pang that rankles after it. – Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
