30 Inspirational Quotes about Strength and Resilience

Our current reality is defined by one word: uncertainty. This word, which dominates current headlines and global conversations, sums up the air of abstraction and mystery surrounding the novel coronavirus, which has infected thousands across our nation and the globe. Even when we take all the recommended steps to keep ourselves and others safe, many of us are still left wrestling with overwhelming feelings of powerlessness. How do we approach a challenge when we've never seen anything quite like it before? How can we overcome when we don't even know the full scope of the task?

There is nothing scarier than not knowing. When we lack control over a situation, there's no clear path to moving forward in strength. Diving into uncertainty and weathering the storm may be the only option. And still, we overcome.

We're looking to wise figures throughout history—from Eleanor Roosevelt to Charles Dickens—to gain some perspective on the current state of the world and find motivation to keep moving forward. Their words remind us that we can overcome anything, even fears that loom larger than any challenge we've previously faced. In a time of uncertainty, may these words of wisdom give you resilience and strength.

Quotes about Strength and Resilience

"It's your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life's story will develop." – Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." – Nelson Mandela

"This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure." – Winston Churchill

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." – Martin Luther King Jr

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it." – Maya Angelou

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." – Ambrose Redmoon

"Don't despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don't – surrender to events with hope." – Alain de Botton

"It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous – even death is terrible only if we fear it." – Epictetus

"No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That's the only way to keep the roads clear." – Greg Kincaid

"We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided." – J.K. Rowling

Quotes about Strength and Love

"Someone I once loved gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift." – Mary Oliver

"Courage isn't having the strength to go on, it is going on when you don't have the strength." – Napoleon Bonaparte

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure." – Peter Marshall

"When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't." – Thomas A. Edison

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

"We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down." – Eleanor Roosevelt

Quotes about Strength and Hope

"The human capacity for burden is like bamboo – far more flexible than you'd ever believe at first glance." – Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

"It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way, even by death, and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment." – Bram Stoker, Dracula

"We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward." – Isabel Allende

"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

"Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work though difficult problems." – Gever Tulley

"We are stronger, gentler, more resilient, and more beautiful than any of us imagine." – Mark Nepo

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." – Nelson Mandela

"There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast." – Charles Dickens

"Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat." – Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Short Quotes about Strength

"Where there is no struggle, there is no strength." – Oprah Winfrey

"Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life." – J.K. Rowling

"We will either find a way, or make one." – Anibal Barca

"Grief and resilience live together." – Michelle Obama, Becoming

"If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it." – Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon