How to stay strong when times are hard is a perennial quest. Life has a funny way of throwing curveballs at us, doesn’t it? We all face tough times, those moments when everything seems to be falling apart and the weight of the world rests on our shoulders. It can be incredibly overwhelming, testing our resilience and strength in ways we never thought possible.
Yet here’s the thing, you are stronger than you realize and you have the power within you to weather any storm that comes your way.
In this post, I share with you 100 heartfelt, positive and wise life quotations from famous personal development authors, writers and personalities that will help you stay strong when times are hard.
These quotes are like little beacons of light, guiding us through the darkest of nights. They come from individuals who have walked similar paths and emerged with profound insights and wisdom to share.
Sometimes, all it takes is a single quote to shift our perspective and remind us of our own inner strength. These words of wisdom will inspire you, uplift you and remind you that you are not alone in your struggles. They serve as powerful reminders that strength is not born out of winning every battle, yet rather from the struggles we face and our determination not to give up.
You’ll find quotes from renowned figures like Helen Keller, Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou and many others who have left an indelible mark on personal development and the human experience. Their words carry a profound sense of authenticity and insight.
You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it. -Ain Eineziz Share on XWhether you’re going through a difficult breakup, grappling with financial hardships, dealing with health issues or facing any other personal challenge, these quotes will provide you with strength and inspiration to help you keep going. They remind us that even in our darkest moments, there is always a glimmer of hope, an opportunity for growth and a chance to emerge stronger and wiser.
So, take a deep breath and let these quotes resonate within you. Allow them to serve as reminders of your inherent strength and resilience. Know that you have the power to navigate through the storms of life, emerging on the other side with a newfound sense of purpose and inner fortitude.
I have also placed several of these in a video for you to enjoy and share. It’s at the top of this post. Plus, I have selected several to put up in an image that you can share as well. Simply click on the image and that will enlarge it to show you sharing buttons at the top of each.
Lastly, you’ll notice that, throughout this post, some quotes are also in a text box for sharing specially on Twitter. Gain strength from the following 100 life quotations about staying strong during difficult times and share them with anyone who you know could use a little support right now.
1. Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. -Arnold Schwarzenegger
2. The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a person perfected without trials. -Confucius
3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. -Albert Einstein
4. The only way out is through. -Robert Frost
5. Tough times never last, but tough people do. -Robert H. Schuller
The only way out is through. -Robert Frost Share on X6. The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph. -George Washington
7. It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. -Aristotle Onassis
8. Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle. -Napoleon Hill
9. The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. -Epicurus
10. Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved. -Helen Keller
11. You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you. -Brian Tracy
12. Your current circumstances do not determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. -Nido Qubein
13. Strength is not the absence of fear but rather the willingness to walk through it. -Leslie Brown
14. Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving; we get stronger and more resilient. -Steve Maraboli
15. The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. -Nelson Mandela
16. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. -Mahatma Gandhi
17. The struggles we endure today will be the ‘good old days’ we laugh about tomorrow. -Aaron Lauritsen
18. You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. -Maya Angelou
Tough times never last, but tough people do. -Robert H. Schuller Share on X19. Sometimes you don’t realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness. -Susan Gale
20. The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us but those who win battles we know nothing about. -Jonathan Harnisch
21. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about. -Haruki Murakami
22. We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity. -Barbara De Angelis
23. I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it. -Maya Angelou
24. The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy. -Martin Luther King Jr.
25. You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have -Bob Marley
26. Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn so that we see ourselves as we really are. -Arthur Golden
27. The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it. -C.C. Scott
28. Courage isn’t having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength. -Napoleon Bonaparte
29. Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. -Joshua J. Marine
30. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. -Joseph Kennedy
31. Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. -Charles R. Swindoll
32. Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t. -Rikki Rogers
You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you. -Brian Tracy Share on X33. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
34. We acquire the strength we have overcome. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
35. Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. -Bruce Lee
36. Strength is the product of struggle, you must do what others don’t to achieve what others won’t. -Henry Rollins
37. The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. -Franklin D. Roosevelt
38. You are stronger than you think you are. Keep pushing forward, because you never know how close you are to the finish line. -Unknown
39. Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, ‘I’ll try again tomorrow.’ -Mary Anne Radmacher
40. If you fell down yesterday, stand up today. -H.G. Wells
41. A problem is a chance for you to do your best. -Duke Ellington
42. The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it and join the dance. -Alan Watts
43. In the middle of a storm, there is stillness deep inside. Find that stillness and your strength will rise. -Eckhart Tolle
44. The most beautiful people I’ve known are those who have known trials, have known struggles, have known loss and have found their way out of the depths. -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
45. It’s not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain. -Vivian Greene
46. You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. -Maya Angelou
The struggles we endure today will be the 'good old days' we laugh about tomorrow. -Aaron Lauritsen Share on X47. Difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter. -Dan Reeves
48. Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are. -Bernice Johnson Reagon
49. Sometimes you have to go through the worst, to get to the best. Keep moving forward. Be patient. -Karen Salmansohn
50. When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. -Henry Ford
51. Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle. -Christian D. Larson
52. The pain you feel today is the strength you feel tomorrow. -Stephen Richards
53. The greater the storm, the brighter the rainbow. -Milly Johnson
54. Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. -Joshua J. Marine
55. The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
56. The struggles we face today develop the strength we need for tomorrow. -Lailah Gifty Akita
57. Stay strong, stay positive and never give up. -Roy Bennett
58. Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. -J.K. Rowling
59. Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us. -Nicole Reed
60. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts. -Winston Churchill
61. It’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. -Rocky Balboa
62. Believe in yourself, take on your challenges, dig deep within yourself to conquer fears. Never let anyone bring you down. You got this. -Chantal Sutherland
When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what the storm is all about. -Haruki Murakami Share on X63. Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. -Horace
64. Keep going. Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. -Roy T. Bennett
65. When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t. -Thomas Edison
66. It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it. -Lou Holtz
67. Strength is born in the moments when you dare to confront adversity and emerge victorious. -Unknown
68. Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. -Sam Levenson
69. Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise. -Victor Hugo
70. You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. -C.S. Lewis
71. The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. Don´t give up. -Robert Tew
72. Believe you can and you’re halfway there. -Theodore Roosevelt
73. Fall seven times, stand up eight. -Japanese Proverb
74. You have to be at your strongest when you’re feeling at your weakest. -Unknown
75. When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. -Alexander Graham Bell
76. Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart. -Roy T. Bennett
77. The comeback is always stronger than the setback. -Unknown
I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it. -Maya Angelou Share on X78. Don’t let the darkness of the past overshadow the brightness of the future. -Unknown
79. Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed. -Bob Riley
80. When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place. -Unknown
81. Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. -Zig Ziglar
82. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. -Eleanor Roosevelt
83. Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. -William Ellery Channing
84. In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. -Albert Camus
85. No matter how hard the past is, you can always begin again. -Buddha
86. Storms make trees take deeper roots. -Dolly Parton
87. You are stronger than you think. You have survived all the challenges that came your way. Keep going, because the best is yet to come. -Unknown
88. Strength is not about how much you can handle before you break, it’s about how much you can endure after you’ve been broken. -Robert Tew
89. Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning. -Robert Kiyosaki
90. Life has a way of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen at once. -Paulo Coelho
91. I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship. -Louisa May Alcott
You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have. -Bob Marley Share on X92. Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you. -Walt Whitman
93. A ship is always safe at the shore, but that is not what it is built for. -Albert Einstein
94. You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it. -Ain Eineziz
95. Success is not the absence of failure; it’s the persistence through failure. -Aisha Tyler
96. The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same. -Colin R. Davis
97. Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. -John Wooden
98. You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength. -Marcus Aurelius
99. Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit. -Napoleon Hill
100. Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. -Henry Ford
I hope these quotes have helped you feel more inspired, encouraged and empowered. Life’s challenges may be daunting, however armed with these words of wisdom, you have the tools to stay strong, no matter what storms may come your way.
Remember, strength does not come from avoiding difficulties or pretending they don’t exist. It comes from acknowledging the struggles, facing them head-on and persevering through the darkest of times. Each quote we’ve explored offers a unique perspective, reminding us that resilience and growth are born out of our ability to embrace adversity and learn from it.
Strength comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn't. -Rikki Rogers Share on XIn those moments when you feel like giving up, when the weight of the world feels too heavy to bear, turn to these quotes. Let them be your guiding light, your source of motivation and your reminder that you are capable of so much more than you realize. Allow them to serve as your companions on the journey, uplifting your spirit and fueling your determination to keep moving forward.
It’s important to remember that staying strong doesn’t mean you have to face challenges alone. Reach out to your support system, lean on loved ones and seek guidance from mentors or professionals when needed. Surround yourself with positive influences and individuals who believe in your ability to overcome any obstacle.
Times of hardship often present opportunities for growth and self-discovery. They challenge us to dig deep within ourselves and tap into reserves of strength we may not have known existed. By embracing these moments, we unlock our true potential and pave the way for personal transformation.
So, when life throws its curveballs your way, take a deep breath and draw on the wisdom found in these quotes. Allow them to ignite the fire within you, reminding you of your capacity for resilience, courage and perseverance. Welcome the challenges, knowing that they are the stepping stones on your path to a richer, more fulfilling life.
Always remember, you are not alone. Countless others have faced similar struggles and emerged stronger on the other side. Seek support, find solace in shared experiences and know that together we can weather any storm that comes our way.
Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, 'I'll try again tomorrow'. -Mary Anne Radmacher Share on XAs you navigate the ups and downs of life, may these quotes continue to inspire you, uplift your spirit and remind you of your innate strength. May they be a constant reminder that you are capable of withstanding any hardship and emerging victorious.
Stay strong and never forget the power that resides within you. Believe in yourself and trust in your ability to overcome. The journey may not always be easy, yet with each step forward, you grow closer to the person you were meant to become.
Wishing you (ad) resilience, courage and boundless strength on your path ahead. You’ve got this!
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