Adversity

We was po' folks livin' in a rich folks world we sure was a hungry bunch
If the wolf had ever come to our front door he'd had to brought a picnic lunch.
~ Bill Anderson, Po' Folks (1962).

Opposition is true friendship.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93).

The difficulties and struggles of today are but the price we must pay for the accomplishments and victories of tomorrow.
~ William J.H. Boetcker

You can't fly a kite unless you go against the wind and have a weight to keep it from turning a somersault. The same with man. No man will succeed unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties and is prepared to assume responsibilities.
~ William J.H. Boetcker

There is only one element that can break the Afrikaner, and that is the Afrikaner himself. It is when the Afrikaner, like a baboon shot in the stomach, pulls out his own intestines. We must guard against that.
~ Pieter Willem (P.W.) Botha, Speech (26 April 1984).

A heretic . . . is a fellow who disagrees with you regarding something which neither of you knows anything about.
~ William Cowper Brann, from The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast, Vol. VI (1919). Salmagundi

All this unvesseled light:
our untouched dissatisfactions
flood from our hands
held cupped to catch them in.
~ William Bronk, My Father Photographed with Friends (1976). The Inclination of the Earth

In a crisis, don't hide behind anything or anybody. They're going to find you anyway.
~ Paul William "Bear" Bryant, Quoted in Criswell Freeman The Book of Football Wisdom: Common Sense and Uncommon Genius from 101 Gridiron Greats (1996).

There is not a person alive who isn't going to have some awfully bad days in their lives. I tell my players that what I mean by fighting is when your house burns down, and your wife runs off with the drummer, and you've lost your job and all the odds are against you. What are you going to do? Most people just lay down and quit. Well, I want my people to fight back.
~ Paul William "Bear" Bryant, I Ain't Never Been Nothing but a Winner: Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's 323 Greatest Quotes About Success, On and Off the Football Field (March 2000).

You never know how a horse will pull until you hook him to a heavy load.
~ Paul William "Bear" Bryant, I Ain't Never Been Nothing but a Winner: Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's 323 Greatest Quotes About Success, On and Off the Football Field (March 2000).

Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness -- a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster-children into strength and athletic proportion. The mind grappling with great aims and wrestling with mighty ingredients, grows, by certain necessity, to their stature. Scarce anything so convinces me of the capacity of the human intellect for indefinite expansion in the different stages of its being, as this power of enlarging itself to the compass of surrounding emergencies.
~ William Cullen Bryant, Speech at a banquet given by the Press of New York (15 December 1851). His Welcome to Kossuth

They talk of short-lived pleasure -- be it so --
Pain dies as quickly; stern, hard-featured pain
Expires, and lets her weary prisoner go.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1832). Sonnet -- Mutation (written in 1824)

The more we arg'ed the question the more we didn't agree.
~ William McKendree ("Will") Carleton, first published in The Toledo Blade (1871). Betsy and I Are Out

Ugly accidents happen . . . always have and always will. But the failures are swept back into the pile and forgotten. They don`t leave any lasting scar in the world, and they don`t affect the future. The things that last are the good things. The people who forge ahead and do something, they really count.
~ Willa Sibert Cather, The Song of the Lark (1915). Part I: Friends of Childhood. Chapter 18

A very good case can be made, on moral as well as economic grounds, for a system in which the individual is required to stand on his own feet, not to lean on the state for handouts. Character, resourcefulness, capacity are formed and developed in struggle with obstacles, not in waiting passively for benefits from outside.
~ William Henry Chamberlin

Difficulty is the element, and resistance the true work of a man.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), An Introductory Address to the Franklin Lectures, Boston MA (1838). Self-Culture

I believe that difficulties are more important to the human mind than what we call assistances. Work we all must, if we mean to bring out and perfect our nature. Even if we do not work with the hands, we must undergo equivalent toil in some other direction. No business or study which does not present obstacles, tasking to the full the intellect and the will, is worthy of a man.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), Lectures on the Elevation of the Labouring Classes (1840). Lecture I

Peril is the element in which power is developed.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), from Discourses, Reviews, and Miscellanies (1830). Discourse at the Dedication of Divinity Hall (Cambridge, 1826)

The path to perfection is difficult to men in every lot; there is no royal road for rich or poor. But difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. And how much has it already overcome!
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), An Introductory Address to the Franklin Lectures, Boston MA (1838). Self-Culture

When you play against a stacked deck, make sure you've got a hand to beat theirs.
~ William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (stated to Wild Bill Hickok), Quoted in They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok (1974).

No traveller ever reached that blest abode,
Who found not thorns and briars in his road.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). An Epistle. To an Afflicted Protestant Lady in France

There are come Critics so with Spleen diseased,
They scarcely come inclining to be pleased:
And sure he must have more than mortal Skill,
Who please one against his Will.
~ William Congreve, The Way of the World (1700). Epilogue

Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves.
~ Sir William Davenant

Human lives are like kites; they soar highest when the string is drawn tightest.
~ William James "W.J." Dawson, The Book of Courage (1911). IV: On Facing Difficulties

Those who have suffered much become very bitter or very gentle.
~ William James "Will" Durant

Man performs, engenders so much more than he can or should have to bear. That's how he finds that he can bear anything.
~ William Faulkner

Here is the secret of inspiration. Tell yourself that thousands and tens of people, not very intelligent and certainly no more intelligent than the rest of us, have mastered problems as difficult as those that now baffle you.
~ William Feather

If we don't discipline ourselves the world will do it for us.
~ William Feather

The prizes go to those who meet emergencies successfully. And the way to meet emergencies is to do each daily task the best we can.
~ William Feather

Unless a man is kicked around a little, you can't really depend on him to amount to anything.
~ William Feather

We may be personally defeated, but our principles never.
~ William Lloyd Garrison, Life. Vol. I

Ah! Oh, don't the days seem lank and long
When all goes right and nothing goes wrong,
And isn't your life extremely flat
With nothing whatever to grumble at!
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Princess Ida (1884 opera). Act III

Throughout my life, I've had success in spite of myself. A person can be raised in a good home and still make the wrong life decisions.
~ Joe Gillam

We may be up against a stone wall, but we don't have to bloody our heads against it unless we choose to.
~ William Glasser, M.D.

One's intelligence may march about and about a problem but the solution does not come gradually into view. One moment it is not. The next it is there.
~ William Golding, Rites of Passage (1980).

Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has. Out of pain and problems have come the sweetest songs, and the most gripping stories.
~ Billy Graham

The angels minister to God's servants in time of hardship and danger.
~ Billy Graham, Word, Inc. ANGELS, by Billy Graham (1975). Hills Full of Horses

Out of defeat can come the best in human nature. As Christians face storms of adversity, they may rise with more beauty. They are like trees that grow on mountain ridges -- battered by winds, yet trees in which we find the strongest wood.
~ Billy Graham, (1991).

All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them, but confront them. Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you; grasp it boldly, and its spines crumble.
~ William S. Halsey

We now know that every particle has an antiparticle, with which it can annihilate. There could be whole antiworlds and antipeople made out of antiparticles. However, if you meet your antiself, don't shake hands! You would both vanish in a great flash of light.
~ Stephen William Hawking, A Brief History of Time (1988).

Our energy is in proportion to the resistance it meets. We attempt nothing great but from a sense of the difficulties we have to encounter, we persevere in nothing great but from a pride in overcoming them.
~ William Hazlitt

. . . very trifling circumstances do give great and daily annoyance, and as often prove too much for our philosophy and forbearance, as matters of the highest moment. . . . The truth is, we pamper little griefs into great ones, and bear great ones as well as we can . . . To great evils we submit; we resent little provocations.
~ William Hazlitt, Table Talk, Essays on Men and Manners (1821-1822). On Great and Little Things

Never allow a man to get the drop on you.
~ J.B. "Wild Bill" Hickok, Quoted in Criswell Freeman The Wisdom of the West (1997).

The difficult I can do today. The impossible will take a little longer.
~ Billie Holiday

Let us remember, when we are inclined to be disheartened, that the private soldier is a poor judge of the fortunes of a great battle.
~ William Ralph (Dean) Inge

Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul's resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger. Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed.
~ William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890).

A Smith and Wesson beats four aces.
~ "Canada Bill" Jones

When you are face to face with a difficulty, you are up against a discovery.
~ Lord Kelvin (William Thomson)

Every generation has its time to struggle. There are no green pastures.
~ William Moses Kunstler, Commencement Remarks to the School of Architecture and Planning, State University of New York at Buffalo (13 May 1995). Public Ethics and the Bill of Rights

I'd have Van Goghed him!
~ Bill "The Spaceman" Lee (on arguing an umpire's call), Quoted in Tales from the Red Sox Dugout (2000).

Every crisis offers you extra desired power.
~ William Moulton Marston

It cannot be too often repeated that it is not helps, but obstacles, not facilities, but difficulties that make men.
~ William Matthews

The difficulties, hardships, and trials of life -- the obstacles one encounters on the road to fortune -- are positive blessings. . . . Peril is the very element in which power is developed.
~ William Mathews, Getting on in the World; Or, Hints on Success in Life (1872). VI. Self-Reliance

When things are at their worst I find something always happens.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage (1915).

Heartbroke? That's serious. Lose a few bucks. That's not.
~ Willie Nelson

As regards the celebrated "struggle for life," it seems to me for the present to have been rather asserted than proved. It does occur, but as the exception; the general aspect of life is not hunger and distress, but rather wealth, luxury, even absurd prodigality -- where there is a struggle it is a struggle for power.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Battle not with monsters lest you become one.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

What does not kill me makes me stronger.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1888). Maxims and Arrows

Courage and cheerfulness will not only carry you over the rough places in life, but will enable you to bring comfort and help to the weak-hearted and will console you in the sad hours. . . .
~ William Osler, The Three Great Lessons of Life

If thou wouldst conquer thy weakness thou must not gratify it.
~ William Penn

It were endless to dispute upon everything that is disputable.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Bearing

No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.
~ William Penn, No Cross, No Crown (1668-1669).

They have a right to censure that have a heart to help: the rest is cruelty, not justice.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693).

Don't Fight It, Feel It.
~ Wilson Pickett

We had provoked before we could defend.
~ William Pitt (Earl of Chatham), Speech, House of Commons, on the defeat of Braddock (July 1755).

I never thought my life had meaning, and I didn't live it as though it was important to anyone except those close to me. Every time you ask yourself if you can make a difference, remember this answer: You bet you can.
~ William Douglas "Bill" Porter, Quoted in Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter (2002). Afterword

By rights you're a king. If I was you, I'd call for a new deal.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), The Heart of the West (1907). Hearts and Crosses

[A]re there difficulties in your path, hindering your pursuit of knowledge, restraining your benevolent endeavour, making your spiritual life a contest and a toil? Be thankful for them. They will test your capabilities of resistance. You will be impelled to persevere from the very energy of the opposition.
~ William Morley (W.M.) Punshon, Lecture Delivered Before the Young Men's Christian Association (17 January 1854). The Prophet of Horeb

Nothing makes a man broad-minded like adversity.
~ Will Rogers, Daily Telegrams (5 May 1933).

I had a series of childhood illnesses . . . scarlet fever . . . pneumonia . . . Polio. I walked with braces until I was at least nine years old. My life wasn't like the average person who grew up and decided to enter the world of sports.
~ Wilma Rudolph, USA Today (6 August 1987).

It [the antagonism between freedom and slavery] is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces.
~ William Henry Seward, The Irrepressible Conflict. Speech given at Rochester, New York (25 October 1858).

A wretched soul, bruis'd with adversity,
We bid be quiet when we hear it cry;
But were we burden'd with like weight of pain,
As much, or more, we should ourselves complain.
~ William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors. Act II, scene i

[A]nd bles'd are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled
That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger
To sound what stop she please.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act III, scene ii

For stony limits cannot hold love out.
And what love can do that dares love attempt.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

He is the most wretched of men who has never felt adversity.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It

Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part III. Act III, scene i

Sweet are the uses of adversity
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act II, scene i

Adversity! sage useful guest,
Severe instructor, but the best;
It is from thee alone we know
Justly to value things below.
~ William Somervile, Fables. The Fortune-Hunter, Canto V

I have woven a parachute out of everything broken.
~ William Stafford

Everyone who achieves success in a great venture, solves each problem as they came to it. They helped themselves. And they were helped through powers known and unknown to them at the time they set out on their voyage. They keep going regardless of the obstacles they met.
~ William (W.) Clement Stone

Mosquito critics with a poisonous sting.
~ William Wetmore Story, Girolamo, Detto il Fiorentino

They are the constants of life, at the core of life, along with nice little delights that come along every now and then . . . we all have them.
~ William Styron, in Conversations with William Styron (1985).

To demand the good of victory without the existence of an antagonist, is to demand something with no meaning.
~ William Temple (Archbishop of Canterbury), Mens Creatrix (1917).

Nothing like blood, sir, in hosses, dawgs, and men.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero (1847-8).

Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.
~ William Arthur Ward

As the valley gives height to the mountain, so can sorrow give meaning to pleasure; as the well is the source of the fountain, deep adversity can be a treasure.
~ William Arthur Ward

The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain -- he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem -- he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills.
~ William Arthur Ward

Hard was the heart that gave the blow,
Soft were those lips that bled.
~ William Warner, Albion's England. Book viii. chap. xli. Stanza 53 (1586).

I work in conservation and find energy in and for it because, in spite of lots of reasons for despair, I think we have it within us not only to avoid an awful confrontation, but to convey to our children a world in which development and preservation are balanced well short of the crisis point.
~ W. William Weeks, Beyond the Ark: Tools for an Ecosystem Approach to Conservation (1996).

Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
~ William Westmoreland, in Time Magazine (5 April 1982).

Nothing can keep thee from thine own
But thine own slothful mind.
To one who knocks, each door unlocks;
And he who seeks, shall find.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, New Thought Pastels (1906). Obstacles

'Tis easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows along like a song;
But the man worth while is the one who will smile
When everything goes dead wrong.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Worth While

Whatever comes, this too shall pass away.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from Poems of Power (1901). This Too Shall Pass Away

If you can't go through it, find a way around it. Don't spend all your time banging your head against that.
~ Lenny Wilkens

Intimidation doesn't last very long.
~ Lenny Wilkens

It was weird. When I was in the attack mode, it was like everything seemed so much easier. It was good. It was like, "I can play."
~ Jay Williams, The Associated Press (9 November 2002). Bulls rookie outduels Kidd

We all have challenges and that's great because it means we're still alive.
~ Jimy Williams, The Associated Press (2 November 2001). Williams Ready for New Challenge With Astros

I decided I can't pay a person to rewind time, so I may as well get over it.
~ Serena Williams, The Associated Press (5 September 2001).

I'm not used to crying. . . . It's a little difficult. All my life I've had to fight. It's just another fight I'm going to have to learn how to win, that's all. I'm just going to have to keep smiling.
~ Serena Williams (remarks during a postmatch news conference, on being booed and jeered at the French Open), The Associated Press (6 June 2003). Henin-Hardenne beats Serena Williams

Once you fully apprehend the vacuity of a life without struggle, you are equipped with the basic means of salvation.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams (recalled on his death, 25 February 1983).

We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out, just the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1963).

The world will always destroy you. And the world will make you ridiculous while it does so.
~ Walter Jon Williams

I learned how it is to be on the other side. I recognized that some people don't have anything and what they go through. It made me a stronger person. I don't take anything for granted. . . . If I see someone down and out, I try to help them and let them know there are people out there who really do care and want to give back to the community.
~ Willie Williams, The SunLink/The SUN Newspaper (25 December 2002). Having a Willie Merry Christmas

He who finds diamonds must grapple in mud and mire because diamonds are not found in polished stones. They are made.
~ Henry B. Wilson

Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
~ William Butler Yeats, Easter, 1916 (1921)