"Everyone who has ever built anywhere a new heaven first found the power thereto in his own hell."

  — Friedrich Nietzsche

 "Integrity, wisdom, skill, intelligence—such things are forged in adversity."

  — Mencius

 "To me defeat in anything is merely temporary. Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing; it is a path leading to success and truth."

  — Bruce Lee

 "The archer who misses his mark does not blame the target. He stops, corrects himself and shoots again."

  — Confucius

 "Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body."

  — Seneca

 "If you're going through hell, keep going."

  — Winston Churchill

 "Without frustration you will not discover that you might be able to do something on your own. We grow through conflict."

  — Bruce Lee

 "So it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains."

  — Lucretius

 "The gem cannot be polished without friction nor man without trials."

  — Confucius

 "Believe me that in every big thing or achievement there are always obstacles—big or small—and the reaction one shows to such obstacles is what counts, not the obstacle itself."

  — Bruce Lee

 "The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

  — Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

 "I am aware that a man of real merit is never seen in so favorable a light as seen through the medium of adversity."

  — Alexander Hamilton

 "Life is an ever-flowing process and somewhere on the path some unpleasant things will pop up—it might leave a scar, but then life is flowing, and like running water, when it stops it grows stale. Go bravely on, my friend, because each experience teaches us a lesson."

  — Bruce Lee

 "The inner master, when confronted with an obstacle, uses it as fuel, like a fire which consumes things that are thrown into it. A small lamp would be snuffed out, but a conflagration will engulf what is thrown at it and burn hotter; it consumes the obstacle and uses it to reach a higher level."

  — Marcus Aurelius

 "So it is that whenever Heaven invests a person with great responsibilities, it first tries his resolve, exhausts his muscles and bones, starves his body, leaves him destitute, and confounds his every endeavor. In this way his patience and endurance are developed, and his weaknesses are overcome. We change and grow only when we make mistakes. We realize what to do only when we work through worry and confusion. And we gain people’s trust and understanding only when our inner thoughts are revealed clearly in our faces and words."

  — Mencius

 "A man is great not because he hasn't failed; a man is great because failure hasn't stopped him."

  — Confucius

 "Sorrows are our best educator. A man can see further through a tear than a telescope."

  — Bruce Lee

 "The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful captains gain their reputation from storms and tempests."

  — Epictetus

 "One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."

  — Sigmund Freud

 "I was in darkness, but I took three steps and found myself in paradise. The first step was a good thought, the second, a good word; and the third, a good deed."

  — Friedrich Nietzsche