Quotes To Inspire Courage, Hope And Hanging In There

As most of you know, I’m a big fan of quotes.  In the beginning I planned to do just one quote on an inspiring photo.  That was until I started researching and came up with so many that I couldn’t possibly only choose one. If you’re anything like me, just reading through these made me feel that life goes on no matter what.  I’m not saying it is easy. But let’s never forget that people throughout history have managed to endure, stay hopeful and eventually thrive once it becomes the past.  Let’s be those kinds of people.

With that in mind, here are some quotes that inspired me.

1. “When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”     ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. “The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.”  ~Ivy Baker Priest

3. “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”  ~Edmund Hillary

4. “I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.”  ~Agatha Christie

5. “Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.”  ~Rainer Maria Rilke

6. “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” ~Mary Anne Radmacher

7. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”
   ~Mahatma Gandhi

8. “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
   ~Albert Camus

9. “Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”
   ~Wayne Dyer

10. “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.” ~Ann Landers

11. “Where there is no struggle, there is no strength” ~Oprah

12. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche

13. “Make up your mind that no matter what comes your way, no matter how difficult, no matter how unfair, you will do more than simply survive. You will thrive in spite of it.” ~Joel Osteen

14. “Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope” ~ Hal Lindsey

15. “Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.” ~Muhammad Ali

16. “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

17. “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” ~Marcus Aurelius

18. “At any given moment you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end.” ~Christine Mason Miller

19. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

20. “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

21. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

22. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

23. “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”   ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

24. “Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.” ~Evangeline Love

25. “I am not a product of circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” ~Stephen Covey

26. “Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb but how well you bounce.” ~Vivian Komori

27. “Dealing with it is the operative word. I found myself at seven years not battling it. Not struggling with it. Not suffering from it. Not breaking under the burden of it,
    but dealing with it.” ~Michael J Fox

28. “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. “ ~Desmond Tutu

29. “I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.” ~Anne Frank

30. “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward.” ~Nelson Mandela

31. “To live without hope is to cease to live.” ~Fyodor Dostoyevsky

32. “You don’t drown by falling in the water, you drown by staying there.” ~Robert Jordan

33. “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” ~Christopher Robin to Pooh, A.A. Milne

34. “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

35. “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.” ~Francis of Assisi

36. “Scared and sacred are spelled with the same letters. Awful proceeds from the same root word as awesome. Terrify and terrific. Every negative experience holds the seed of transformation.” ~Alan Cohen

37. “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

38. “There are far, far better things ahead than anything we leave behind.” ~C. S. Lewis

39. “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” ~Richard Bach

40. “The sun always comes up. Spring always comes after winter. The river always reach the ocean. Always.” ~Maxime Lagacé

41. “The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.”  ~Carlos Castaneda

42. “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”  ~Epictetus

43. “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” ~Charles Darwin

44. Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.  ~Marilyn Monroe

45. “I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition. “ ~Martha Washington

46. “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”  ~Victor Frankl

47. COMES THE DAWN

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security,

And you begin to understand that kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises.

And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head held high and your eyes open,

With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child.
You learn to build your roads

On today because tomorrow’s ground
Is too uncertain for plans, and futures have
A way of falling down in midflight.

After a while you learn that even sunshine
Burns if you get too much.

So you plant your own garden and decorate
Your own soul, instead of waiting

For someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you can really endure,

That you really are strong
And you really do have worth

And you learn and learn … and you learn
With every goodbye you learn.

~Veronica A. Shoftstall

48. “No one knows enough to be a pessimist.” ~Wayne Dyer

49. “Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.” ~Eckhart Tolle

50. “When you come to the edge of all that you know, you must believe one of two things: there will be ground to stand on… or you will grow wings to fly.” ~ O.R. Melling

I’m sure there are more.  Thousands more.  Did I miss one?  Please share your favorites in the comments below.