|   check out Stress/Relaxation Central   CHALLENGE, COPING, PRACTICE"It is circumstances which show what men are. Therefore, when a difficulty falls     upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched you with a rough     young man. For what purpose? you might ask. So that you may become an Olympic Conqueror;     but it is not accomplished without sweat. ...no man has had a more profitable difficulty     than you have had, if you choose to make use of it as an athlete would deal with a young     antagonist."Epictetus  
 
Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist--     it reduces him to his fighting weight.Josh Billings 
 
FATE/FORTUNE, SUFFERING"That which does not kill me makes me stronger."Nietzsche 
"Night brings out stars as sorrows show us truths."Bailey, TRUTHS AND SORROWS 
COPING, STRESS, STABILITY, SINE WAVE, CHANGE, FORTUNE"Be not elated by fortune, be not depressed by adversity."Cleobulus 
LEARNING, ADVERSITY, OLD AGELearning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in     old age.Aristotle 
 
ADVERSITY, GRIEF, PASTWhat has passed and cannot be prevented, should not be grieved for.Big Elk, Maha Chief from Commonplace book of Prose, 1830 
BEST, CHALLENGEYou are at your very best when things are worse.Jeff Bridges says in movie Starman, describing humanity 
PROSPERITY, FRIENDSIn prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.John Churton Collins 1848-1908 
It's in adversity that great courage shines.Phillipe Ne'ricault Destouches, L'Ambitieux, Act V, Sc.II (168-1754 
CHAOS, DISORDER, PROBLEMS, TROUBLE, OPPORTUNITY, CATASTROPHE, "What appear to be calamities are often the sources of fortune."Disraeli, Endymion 
"There is no education like adversity."Disraeli, Endymion 
SINE-WAVE, YIN-YANGThe swiftest steed to bear you to your goal is suffering... Nothing is more gall-bitter     than suffering, nothing so honey sweet as to have suffered. The most sure foundation for     this perfection is humility, for he whose nature here creeps in deepest depths shall soar     in spirit to highest height of deity; for joy brings sorrow and sorrow brings joy.Meister Eckhart 
SURVIVAL, COPING"As aromatic plants bestowNo spicy fragrance while they grow;But crushed or trodden to the ground, Diffuse their balmy sweets around."Goldsmith, Oliver, The Captivity 
We encounter the grinding wheels that sharpen our mental blades many places in life. Adversity,     school, parents, spiritual guides, books, experience are all sharpening teachers. As     we grow older, to stay sharp we must find new grindstones to whet and sharpen our     potential and keep us at our brightest, most penetrating best. Kall, Robert 
TROUBLE, HASSLES, PERSPECTIVE"When we put our misfortunes in one scale of the balance, each of us lays, in the     other, all that he deems to be happiness. The savage flings feathers and powder, and     alcohol into the scale; civilized men some gold, a few days of delirium; but the sage will     deposit therein countless things our eyes cannot see-- all his soul, it may be, and even     the misfortune that he will have purified."Maeterlinck, Maurice, WISDOM and DESTINY  
STRENGTH, TROUBLEA woman is like a tea bag. It's only when she's in hot water that you realize how strong     she is.Nancy Reagan 
EXPERIENCENothing makes a man broad minded like adversity.Will Rogers 
OPTIMISM, COPINGMy barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon.Taoist saying 
 
Adversity has ever been considered as the state in which a man most easily     becomes acquainted with himself, being free from flatterersS. Johnson 
Watch a man in times of... adversity to discover what kind of a man he is; for     then at last, words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn     off..Lucretius, On The Nature of Things 
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.   ALBERT CAMUS  
Oh, isn't life a terrible thing, thank God? DYLAN THOMAS  
If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it round. Trouble creates a     capacity to handle it. I don't embrace trouble; that's as bad as treating it as an enemy.     But I do say meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking     terms with it. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 
A man is insensible to the relish of prosperity till he has tasted adversity. SA'ID 
When times are good, be happy, but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as     well as the other. ECCLESIASTES 7:14  |