Resilience. It’s a compelling word, and it’s a quality we should all strive to embody.
Thanks to Nassim Taleb’s perspectives, among others, I’ve come to realize that resilience is about being adaptable, flexible, and growing stronger even as life sends you on a detour.
I put together this curated collection of quotes about resilience to act as inspiration, affirmations or reminders of that fact — even when the path ahead is unknown.
May they serve to inject some of the wisdom of their authors.
Quotes About Resilience
If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.
Henry David Thoreau
Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.
Steve Maraboli
The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.
Robert Jordan
My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has actually made me better equipped to face the present.
Steve Goodier
Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.
Nassim Taleb
Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good.
Elizabeth Edwards
The human capacity for burden is like bamboo — far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.
Jodi Picoult
What helps you persevere is your resilience and commitment.
Roy T. Bennett
You can bind up my leg, but not even Zeus has the power to break my freedom of choice.
Epictetus
No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That’s the only way to keep the roads clear.
Greg Kincaid
Cleaning the wound is often more painful than the cut itself.
Brandon Sanderson
Strong people alone know how to organize their suffering so as to bear only the most necessary pain.
Emil Dorian
A good half of the art of living is resilience.
Alain de Botton
I suppose if a man has something once, always something of it remains.
Ernest Hemingway
I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley
If the fire in your heart is strong enough, it will burn away any obstacles that come your way.
Suzy Kassem
Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.
Angela Duckworth
My barn having burned down, I can now see the moon.
Mizuta Masahide
Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.
Gever Tulley
You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.
Margaret Thatcher
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
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
Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life.
J.K. Rowling
I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.
Maya Angelou
You must bear losses like a soldier, the voice told me, bravely and without complaint, and just when the day seems lost, grab your shield for another stand, another thrust forward. That is the juncture that separates heroes from the merely strong.
Margaret George
No matter how bleak or menacing a situation may appear, it does not entirely own us. It can’t take away our freedom to respond, our power to take action.
Ryder Carroll
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
All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one… characteristic we must posses if we are to face the future as finishers.
Henry David Thoreau
I tried and failed. I tried again and again and succeeded.
Gail Borden
It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setbacks.
Bob Richards
Only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.
Robert F. Kennedy
The difference between a strong man and a weak one is that the former does not give up after a defeat.
Woodrow Wilson
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Confucius
Forget mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you are going to do right now, and do it. Today is your lucky day.
Will Durant
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
Helen Keller
We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.
Seneca
If you’re going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill
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
We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.
Stephen Covey
When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience.
Jaeda Dewalt
Resilience is the ability to attack while running away.
Wes Fessler
Resilience is based on compassion for ourselves as well as compassion for others.
Sharon Salzberg
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
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
Thomas Edison
Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.
Les Brown
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
Successful people demonstrate their resilience through their dedication to making progress every day, even if that progress is marginal.
Jonathan Mills
Like tiny seeds with potent power to push through tough ground and become mighty trees, we hold innate reserves of unimaginable strength. We are resilient.
Catherine DeVrye
Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.
Og Mandino
Never settle for the path of least resistance.
Lee Ann Womack
Resilience isn’t a single skill. It’s a variety of skills and coping mechanisms. To bounce back from bumps in the road as well as failures, you should focus on emphasizing the positive.
Jean Chatzky
Resilience is knowing that you are the only one that has the power and the responsibility to pick yourself up.
Mary Holloway
Parting Words
As I continue to explore more of the world, I’m constantly reminded that resilience is a practice. It’s about pushing through any unexpected detours, taking the feedback and lessons with you, then forging ahead.
It’s easier said than done, but it’s about seeing every setback as an opportunity for growth, and finding the inner fortitude to keep moving forward no matter what.
What’s your favorite quote about resilience? Let me know in the comments.
P.S. If you liked this, you may also enjoy these related quote collections:
- Quotes About Change and Growth
- Quotes About Life Obstacles and Barriers
- Quotes About Perspective
- Quotes About Experience
- Quotes About Synergy
Originally published May 30, 2023. The date of the last significant edit is reflected at the top of the post.
