Ever wonder why cafes pair coffee with desserts? It’s because they complement each other. The bitterness of the coffee brings out the sweetness of the dessert, and vice versa. What does that have to do with resilience, you say? Well, the thing to remember about life is that the ups and downs go hand in hand. You can’t appreciate the good without the bad, and you can’t endure the bad without the confidence that it will lead to something good eventually. That’s our take on resilience. Want 55 more? If “Yes,” keep reading.

55 Quotes on Being Resilient

  1. “When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do we realize that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives.” — A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
  2. “Think about your capabilities, your strength, your perseverance, and your resilience. Give yourself a pat on the back.” — Kate Anderson
  3. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” — Maya Angelou
  4. “In order to succeed, people need a sense of self-efficacy, to struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.” — Albert Bandura
  5. “Resilience isn’t a single skill. It’s a variety of skills and coping mechanisms. To bounce back from bumps in the road as well as failures, you should focus on emphasizing the positive.” — Jean Chatzky
  6. “Strong people alone know how to organize their suffering so as to bear only the most necessary pain.” — Emil Dorian
  7. “Resilience is not about being able to bounce back like nothing has happened. Resilience is your consistent resistance to give up.” — Janna Cachola
  8. “Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive.” — Jamais Cascio
  9. “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” — Jack Dempsey
  10. “One’s doing well if age improves even slightly one’s capacity to hold on to that vital truism: ‘This too shall pass.’” — Alain de Botton
  11. “Like tiny seeds with potent power to push through tough ground and become mighty trees, we hold innate reserves of unimaginable strength. We are resilient.” — Catherine DeVrye
  12. “When it’s only you that you can rely on, you’re surprised at the resilience you have.” — Paul Dini
  13. “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” — Kahlil Gibran
  14. “Resilience can go an awful long way.” — Eddie the Eagle
  15. “Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before.” — Elizabeth Edwards
  16. “Your ability to nurture and truly appreciate yourself for who you are goes a long way toward boosting your resilience and helping you bounce back more quickly in times of stress, hurt, and loss.” — Lisa Broesch-Weeks
  17. “My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has actually made me better equipped to face the present.” — Steve Goodier
  18. “No one escapes pain, fear, and suffering. Yet from pain can come wisdom, from fear can come courage, from suffering can come strength – if we have the virtue of resilience.” — Eric Greitens
  19. “True resilience fosters well-being, an underlying sense of happiness, love, and peace.” — Rick Hanson
  20. “Things always get better with time, just wait and see.” — Clavel Nelson
  21. “Resilience is knowing that you are the only one that has the power and the responsibility to pick yourself up.” — Mary Holloway
  22. “Resilience is an important key. Protect the key to your peaceful heart.” — Angelica Hopes
  23. “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” — Helen Keller
  24. “No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That’s the only way to keep the roads clear.” — Greg Kincaid
  25. “There’s no such thing as ruining your life. Life’s a pretty resilient thing, it turns out.” — Sophie Kinsella
  26. “If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces.” — Shane Koyczan 47 Badass Quotes That Will Get You Motivated 29 Beautiful Quotes About Sacrifice The Problem With Having Too Much Empathy For Others
  27. “Resilience is, of course, necessary for a warrior. But a lack of empathy isn’t.” — Phil Klay
  28. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Nelson Mandela
  29. “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” — Og Mandino
  30. “It’s during our very worst fall that we can either die or learn to fly.” — Sira Masetti
  31. “Change what you can, manage what you can’t.” — Raymond McCauley
  32. “My life was my life; I would have to stare it down, somehow, and make it work for me.” — Paula McLain
  33. “Successful people demonstrate their resilience through their dedication to making progress every day, even if that progress is marginal.” — Jonathan Mills
  34. “Although most of us don’t spend time thinking about our thoughts, increasing your awareness of your thinking habits proves useful in building resilience.” — Amy Morin
  35. “Willingness to get going, concentrated effort, persistence and resilience in the face of obstacles – all are crucial to success in achieving life goals.” — George Harris
  36. “Failure is an important part of your growth and developing resilience.” — Michelle Obama
  37. “The human capacity for burden is like bamboo – far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.” — Jodi Picoult
  38. “Become more resilient by learning to focus on solutions rather than problems.” — Byron Pulsifer.
  39. “Everyone needs resilience, because one thing is certain, life includes adversities.” — Karen Reivich
  40. “Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life.” — J.K. Rowling
  41. “I won’t lose hope. I won’t be broken.” — Rachel L. Schade
  42. “Sleep is a key part of the requirements for resilience and good decision-making.” — James G. Stavridis
  43. “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” — Margaret Thatcher
  44. “Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.” — Gever Tulley
  45. “It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.” — Dieter F. Uchtdorf
  46. “I will not be another flower, picked for my beauty and left to die. I will be wild, difficult to find, and impossible to forget.” — Erin Van Vuren
  47. “The moment we believe that success is determined by an ingrained level of ability as opposed to resilience and hard work, we will be brittle in the face of adversity.” — Joshua Waitzkin
  48. “I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance. Never settle for the path of least resistance.” — Lee Ann Womack
  49. “The difference between a strong man and a weak one is that the former does not give up after a defeat.” — Woodrow Wilson
  50. “Truth be told, you will never really know just how strong and adamant you are unless adversity strikes. Then you learn courage, you build resilience, you learn to persevere, you build character.” — T. Whitmore
  51. “Human beings have enormous resilience.” — Muhammad Yunus Did these resilience quotes help you? It’s often said that life is not a bed of roses. Actually, it is — but probably not in the way you think. On the one hand, rose petals are soft and beautiful. On the other hand, roses come with thorns. That’s an apt metaphor for life, don’t you think? It has both petals and thorns, and you can’t really have one without the other. But, as the people above point out, it’s not your hardships that define how “good” or “bad” your life is. Rather, it’s how you carry those hardships, and whether you choose to let them make or break you.