When life gets tough, many people turn to words of wisdom for comfort and guidance. We wanted to do our part in encouraging you by putting together a list of 105 quotes about going through hard times and staying strong.
These simple quotes help light the way forward when everything seems dark. The thoughts shared by those who have faced their own difficult journeys remind us that pain has a purpose and that challenges won’t last forever.
So, let’s start!
You might also like:
Quotes about Going through Hard Times and Staying Strong
1. “The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. Don’t give up.” — Robert Tew
2. “On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail and begin.” — Gregory S. Williams
3. “Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.” — William Ellery Channing
4. “It isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you down. It’s the pebble in your shoe.” — Muhammad Ali
5. “I’ve learned to rely on the strength I inherited from all those who came before me — the grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and brothers who were tested with unimaginable hardships and still survived.” — Oprah Winfrey
6. “Use what you’ve been through as fuel, believe in yourself and be unstoppable!” — Yvonne Pierre
7. “There are certain life lessons that you can only learn in the struggle.” — Idowu Koyenikan
8. “When you come to the edge of all that you know, you must believe one of two things: There will be ground to stand. Or you will grow wings to fly.” —O.R. Melling
9. “He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty.” — Lao Tzu
10. “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.” — Cayla Mills
Also read: 99 Best Quotes about Change in People Behaviour Suddenly
11. “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe
12. “There is a tremendous strength that is growing in the world through sharing together, praying together, suffering together, and working together.” — Mother Teresa
13. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” — Michael Jordan
14. “There’s nothing wrong or evil about having a bad day. There’s everything wrong with making others have to have it with you.” — Neil Cavuto
15. “It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.” — Dieter F. Uchtdorf
16. “You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.” — Bob Marley
17. “Someday everything will make perfect sense. So, for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason.” — Unknown
18. “You can’t really be strong until you can see a funny side to things.” — Ken Kesey
19. “There is neither happiness nor unhappiness in this world; there is merely the comparison of one state to the other. Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss.” — Alexandre Dumas
20. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because, without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” — Maya Angelou
21. “No one is going to hand me success. I must go out and get it myself. That’s why I’m here. To dominate. To conquer. Both the world and myself.” —Unknown
Also read: 121 Amazing be Happy with Who You are Quotes
22. “When it’s tough, lean in and stay strong. Remember it’s for the better. It’s for you, not against you.” — Maxime Lagacé
23. “If you’re reading this … Congratulations, you’re alive. If that’s not something to smile about, then I don’t know what is.” — Chad Sugg
24. “Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” — Misty Copeland
25. “Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end.” — Roy T. Bennett
26. “You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.” — Epicurus
27. “You shouldn’t focus on why you can’t do something, which is what most people do. You should focus on why perhaps you can, and be one of the exceptions.” — Steve Case
28. “People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.” —Emily Dickinson
29. “Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.” — Leroy Satchel Paige
30. “If there is one lesson I’ve learned from failure and success, it’s this: I am not the outcome. I am never the result. I am only the effort.” — Kamal Ravikant
31. “We all have battles to fight. And it’s often in those battles that we are most alive: it’s on the frontlines of our lives that we earn wisdom, create joy, forge friendships, discover happiness, find love, and do purposeful work.” — Eric Greitens
Also read: 115 Change is Inevitable Quotes: Growth is the Only Way
32. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” — Michael Jordan
33. “When times are hard and you are mentally and physically exhausted and feel like you have nothing left and all you want to do is quit, that’s when you find out who you are! Stay hard!” — David Goggins
34. “Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.” — Bernice Johnson Reagon
35. “People who try to force circumstances become their slaves. Those who use them become their masters.” — The Talmud
36. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” — Nelson Mandela
37. “I like to use the hard times in the past to motivate me today.” — Dwayne Johnson
38. “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” — Oprah Winfrey
39. “Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.” — Leo Suenens
40. “Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing your fears.” — Gillian Anderson
41. “You can’t calm the storm… so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.” — Timber Hawkeye
42. “I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me.” — Joshua Graham
Also read: 101 Heartfelt I am So Happy to be with You Quotes
43. “Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.” — Bob Riley
44. “It is wonderful what great strides can be made when there is a resolute purpose behind them.” — Winston Churchill
45. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” — Thomas A. Edison
46. “Hard times may have held you down, but they will not last forever. When all is said and done, you will be increased.” — Joel Osteen
47. “Resilience is very different than being numb. Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt. You fall. But, you keep going.” — Yasmin Mogahed
48. “Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.” — Coco Chanel
49. “The further you walk away from accountability, the weaker you become. Character is not built on the couch. Stay hard!” — David Goggins
50. “Going through challenging things can teach you a lot, and they also make you appreciate the times that aren’t so challenging.” — Carrie Fisher
51. “Persevere on, my brave lads. We have only just begun. Never despond! Never say enough!” — Swami Vivekananda
52. “When I dare to be powerful — to use my strength in the service of my vision — then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” — Audre Lorde
Also read: 105 Effective Quotes about Starting over in Life
53. “It takes time for a fruit to mature and acquire sweetness and become eatable; time is a prime factor for most good fortunes.” — The Vedas
54. “There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits.” — Michael Phelps
55. “Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.” — Rumi
56. “The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.” — Robert Jordan
57. “There’s always a way through every challenge. You need a heart full of commitment. A lens focused on positivity. And a willingness to travel unexplored paths. Faith forward. You’ll get there.” — Karen Salmansohn
58. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the things you think you are unable to do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
59. “Strong people alone know how to organize their suffering so as to bear only the most necessary pain.” — Emil Dorian
60. “When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better.” — Malcolm S. Forbes
61. “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” — Og Mandino
62. “It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setbacks.” — Bob Richards
63. “Being strong doesn’t mean you’ll never get hurt. It means even when you get hurt, you’ll never let it defeat you.” — Unknown
Also read: 105 Keep Your Head up Quotes for Her to Stay Strong
64. “He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.” — Louisa May Alcott
65. “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
66. “Never be ashamed of a scar. It means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you.” — Unknown
67. “Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.” — Albert Schweitzer
68. “Burdens are for shoulders strong enough to carry them.” — Margaret Mitchell
69. “And one has to understand that braveness is not the absence of fear but rather the strength to keep on going forward despite the fear.” — Paulo Coelho.
70. “I have no regrets in my life. I think that everything happens to you for a reason. The hard times that you go through build character, making you a much stronger person.” — Rita Mero
71. “No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That’s the only way to keep the roads clear.” — Greg Kincaid
72. “One word of encouragement can be enough to spark someone’s motivation to continue with a difficult challenge.” — Roy T. Bennett
73. “When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience.” — Jaeda Dewalt
Also read: 115 Quotes on Strong Character for a Life of Honor
74. “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” — Dale Carnegie
75. “When you go through something, like, you learn to appreciate little things – the birds, trees, flowers.” — Grizz Chapman
76. “Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.” — Dr. Wayne Dyer
77. “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.” — Corrie ten Boom
78. “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus
79. “There is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — A.A. Milne
80. “Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of those pieces.” — Judith Viorst
81. “My strength is as the strength of 10, / Because my heart is pure.” — Alfred Lord Tennyson
82. “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — A. A. Milne
83. “In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” — Lee Iacocca
84. “We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward.” — Isabel Allende
Also read: 121 Effective Quotes on Determination and Willpower
85. “Most great people have attained their greatest success one step beyond their greatest failure.” — Napoleon Hill
86. “Don’t give up. There are too many nay-sayers out there who will try to discourage you. Don’t listen to them. The only one who can make you give up is yourself.” — Sidney Sheldon
87. “Be strong. Live honorably and with dignity. When you don’t think you can, hold on.” — James Frey
88. “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of a greater or equal benefit.” — Napoleon Hill
89. “Every generation has their challenge. And things change rapidly, and life gets better in an instant.” — Jon Stewart
90. “When I hear somebody say ‘Life is hard’, I am always tempted to ask ‘Compared to what?’” — Sydney J. Harris
91. “We must always deal from strength and insist on verification of every agreement. In my meetings with the General Secretary I repeated several times a Russian proverb: ‘Doveryai no proveryai’—’Trust but verify.’” — Ronald Reagan
92. ”Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.” — Brian Tracy
93. “The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty.” — Jean Jacques Rousseau
94. “Every problem is a gift. Without problems we would not grow.” — Tony Robbins
Also read: 125 Best Motivational Quotes for Overcoming Obstacles
95. “Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” — George R.R. Martin
96. “At any given moment you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end.” — Christine Mason Miller
97. “Look well into yourself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if you will always look there.” — Marcus Aurelius
98. “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
99. “However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.” — Stephen Hawking
100. “Owning your story is the bravest thing you’ll ever do.” — Brené Brown
101. “Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself-and be lenient to everybody else.” — Henry Ward Beecher
102. “Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.” — Drew Barrymore
103. “Until you’re broken you don’t know what you’re made of. It gives you the ability to build yourself all over again, but stronger than ever…” — Melissa Molomo
104. “I say that the strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.” — George Eliot
105. “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” — Joshua J. Marine
Hope you enjoyed these inspiring quotes about going through hard times and staying strong!
You can Check out My Recent Inspirational Quote Posts:
