Top 50 Adversity Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.”

— Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Also featured in: Quotes About Stories

2. “If you have a strong belief in yourself, in what you are doing and what you want to do, no adversity is too difficult to overcome.”

— Napoleon Hill

Also featured in: Strong Quotes, Self-Esteem Quotes

3. “Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.”

— Victor Hugo

4. “No one’s life is a smooth sail; we all come into stormy weather. But it’s this adversity – and more specifically our resilience – that makes us strong and successful.”

— Tony Robbins

Also featured in: Strong Quotes

5. “Don’t be afraid of a little opposition. Remember that the ‘Kite’ of success generally rises AGAINST the wind of Adversity, not with it.”

— Napoleon Hill

6. “I am thankful for the adversities, which have crossed my pathway, for they taught me tolerance, sympathy, self-control, perseverance and some other virtues I might never have known.”

— Napoleon Hill

Also featured in: Gratitude Quotes

7. “Within every adversity is an equal and opposite benefit.”

— Napoleon Hill

8. “There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.”

— Malcolm X

9. “Celebrate your success and stand strong when adversity hits, for when the storm clouds come in, the eagles soar while the small birds take cover.”

— Napoleon Hill

Also featured in: Strong Quotes

10. “Your attitude towards problems, difficulties, and adversities is the most important factor in overcoming them.”

— Napoleon Hill

11. “In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.”

— Francis Bacon

Also featured in: Christian Quotes

12. “When jarred, unavoidably, by circumstance revert at once to yourself and don’t lose the rhythm more than you can help. You’ll have a better grasp of harmony if you keep going back to it.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Also featured in: Helping Quotes

13. “The great challenge is to refuse to let the bad things that happen to us do bad things to us. That is the crucial difference between adversity and tragedy.”

— Neal A. Maxwell

Also featured in: Challenges Quotes

14. “Adversity always presents opportunities for introspection.”

— Abdul Kalam

15. “Pursue your goals even in the face of difficulties, and convert adversities into opportunities.”

— Dhirubhai Ambani

16. “Adversity is a crossroads that makes a person choose one of two paths: character or compromise. Every time he chooses character, he becomes stronger, even if that choice brings negative consequences.”

— John C. Maxwell

Also featured in: Character Quotes

17. “Face adversity head on in your training and you will conquer it smoothly in your fight.”

— Conor McGregor

Also featured in: Fighting Quotes, MMA Quotes

18. “Much of your pain is self-chosen.”

— Khalil Gibran

Also featured in: Pain Quotes

19. “When you face adversity, you need to remind yourself that whatever is trying to defeat you could very well be what God will use to promote you.”

— Joel Osteen

20. “Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.”

— Edgar Allan Poe

21. “I can bounce back from adversity and reinvent my life – it’s possible.”

— Les Brown

Also featured in: Self-Improvement Quotes

22. “Adversity often produces an unexpected opportunity. Look for it ! Appreciate and utilize it! This is difficult to do if you’re feeling sorry for yourself because you’re faced with adversity.”

— John Wooden

23. “Here life itself, life at its best and healthiest, awaits the caprice of the bullet. Let us see the development of the day. All else may stand over, perhaps for ever. Existence is never so sweet as when it is at hazard.”

— Winston Churchill

24. “With every adversity and trial comes the opportunity to grow stronger and learn from your circumstance.”

— O. J. Brigance

25. “No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.”

— Seneca the Younger

26. “It is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

— Charles Dickens

27. “Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it.”

— Robertson Davies

Also featured in: Courage Quotes, Quotes About People

28. “You will suffer, be tempted, and make mistakes. You will learn for yourself what every heroine has learned: through overcoming challenges come growth and strength. It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.”

— Dieter F. Uchtdorf

29. “Out of adversity comes opportunity.”

— Benjamin Franklin

30. “Education is the food of youth, the delight of old age, the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity, and the provocation to grace in the soul.”

— Saint Augustine

31. “What such a man needs is not courage but nerve control, cool headedness. This he can get only by practice.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

32. “I thank God for my handicaps. For through them, I have found myself, my work and my God.”

— Helen Keller

33. “Real champions fight through adversity.”

— Conor McGregor

Also featured in: Real Quotes, Fighting Quotes

34. “Where victims see adversity, extreme achievers see opportunity.”

— Robin S. Sharma

35. “I never feel more alive than when I’m in great pain, struggling against insurmountable odds and untold adversity. Hardship? Suffering? Bring it!”

— Dean Karnazes

36. “Adversity doesn’t build character; it reveals it.”

— Unknown

37. “We find comfort among those who agree with us – growth among those who don’t.”

— Frank A. Clark

Also featured in: Spirituality Quotes

38. “Prosperity tries the fortunate, adversity the great.”

— Rose Kennedy

Also featured in: Quotes About Trying

39. “Good actions are a guard against the blows of adversity.”

— Abu Bakr

Also featured in: Action Quotes

40. “Whenever God means to make a man great, he always breaks him in pieces first.”

— Charles H. Spurgeon

Also featured in: Christian Quotes, Spirituality Quotes

41. “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”

— Charles R. Swindoll

Also featured in: Positive Quotes, Attitude Quotes, Stress Quotes

42. “The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.”

— Walt Disney

43. “If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.”

— Elon Musk

Also featured in: Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes, Business Quotes, Innovation Quotes, Determination Quotes

44. “Adversity is preparation for greatness.”

— Andy Andrews

45. “Fall down seven times, get up eight.”

— Japanese Proverb

Also featured in: Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Quotes About Strength, Failure Quotes, Determination Quotes

46. “Gold is tried by fire, brave men by adversity.”

— Seneca the Younger

Also featured in: Hero Quotes

47. “Miracles arise from conviction. Be convicted about these things: Miracles can happen. Miracles do happen. Love makes them happen.”

— Marianne Williamson

48. “We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.”

— Helen Keller

Also featured in: Personal Growth Quotes

49. “And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

— Haruki Murakami

50. “Throw me to the wolves and I will return leading the pack.”

— Seneca

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes, Quotes About Strength, Determination Quotes