Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

I may not be where I want to be, but thank God I am not where I used to be.

A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.

Even the securest financial plan and the finest health coverage aren’t enough to hold us steady when the challenges come… We need something more, something deeper and unshakeable, something that will see us through life’s hard times.

The difference between us and them, between you and success, is not that you never fail, but it’s how you recover from those failures – is that you keep getting up time and time again. You figure out what you did wrong, and then you make it right. I say that to my kids every day.

I am prepared to resort to anything, to submit to anything, for the sake of the commonwealth.

All experience is an arch, to build upon.

There are going to be good days and bad days. Bottom line.

Rioting is a childish way of trying to be a man, but it takes time to rise out of the hell of hatred and frustration and accept that to be a man you don’t have to riot.

It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution.

I don’t believe in the school of hard knocks, although I’ve had them. All that stuff about whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is so not true. Do you know what makes you stronger? When people treat you and your art with dignity.

Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be our best. Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth; it’s a shield.

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.

You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.

Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.

Many entrepreneurs do not realize that many of the problems their businesses face today began yesterday, long before there was a business.

Everyone goes through adversity in life, but what matters is how you learn from it.

Partnering with Atlantic Records creates the opportunity to take what we’re doing to the next level, without compromising.

If it doesn’t work out there will never be any doubt that the pleasure was worth all the pain.

Age merely shows what children we remain.

Great industries are never made from single companies. There is room in space for a lot of winners.

Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul but his life.

I am sometimes sad when I hear the personal stories of Tibetan refugees who have been tortured or beaten. Some irritation, some anger comes. But it never lasts long. I always try to think at a deeper level, to find ways to console.

Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.

I wish everyone well, but you need to focus on yourself. You need to stop putting your hand out. Everyone wants hand outs. Everyone wants things for free. You’ve got to put in the work. You’ve got to grind. You’ve got go through the struggle, and you’ve got to get it.

A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.

We become wiser by adversity; prosperity destroys our appreciation of the right.

And I love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it – when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost – Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. Just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward… with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.

For Africa to move forward, you’ve really got to get rid of malaria.

They died hard, those savage men – like wounded wolves at bay. They were filthy, and they were lousy, and they stunk. And I loved them.

My childhood did not prepare me for the fact that the world is full of cruel and bitter things.

Remember that life’s big changes rarely give advance warning.

There are a lot of inaccuracies out there when it comes to the SEAL training process. You will see guys carrying logs around on television. They think that the hardest part about being on a SEAL team is getting through that training. The fact of the matter is, if you have a good attitude, that training is fun. I had a blast.

Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.

I didn’t want to play it boring and safe. I also didn’t want to innovate too much. Second albums, man, they’re even scarier than first ones.

Without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn from our mistakes. To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life.

I don’t have much positive to say about motor neurone disease. But it taught me not to pity myself because others were worse off, and to get on with what I could still do.

The former colonies, in Latin America in particular, have a better chance than ever before to overcome centuries of subjugation, violence and foreign intervention, which they have so far survived as dependencies with islands of luxury in a sea of misery.

Start a part-time business and make as many mistakes as you possibly can while you still have your daytime job.

You have learnt something. That always feels at first as if you had lost something.

As you deal with more and more complex systems, it becomes harder and harder to find deep and interesting properties.

The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head – chemo-brain they call it. It’s awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.

You have people come into your life shockingly and surprisingly. You have losses that you never thought you’d experience. You have rejection and you have learn how to deal with that and how to get up the next day and go on with it.

Remembering what you’ve been through and how that has strengthened your mindset can lift you out of a negative brain loop and help you bypass those weak, one-second impulses to give in. Even if you’re feeling low and beat down by life right now, I guarantee you can think of a time or two when you overcame odds and tasted success.

I allow myself to fail. I allow myself to break. I’m not afraid of my flaws.

If someone you know makes a bad decision or uses bad judgment, it doesn’t mean you have to allow that to alter your attitude. Why should you allow anyone else’s bad decisions to send you into a tailspin of misery?

We need to recognize that the situation in Ferguson speaks to broader challenges that we still face as a nation. The fact is, in too many parts of this country, a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of color. Some of this is the result of the legacy of racial discrimination in this country.

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.

When things are going bad, there’s going to be some good that’s going to come from it.

Without education, your children can never really meet the challenges they will face. So it’s very important to give children education and explain that they should play a role for their country.

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.

One thing Britons have always been celebrated for, and that is being able to stick it out in a tight place.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation.

The best way out of a difficulty is through it.

Nothing is so discouraging to an actor than to have to work for long hours upon hours in brightly lighted interior sets.

Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter.

We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.

It’s in the difficult times that we’re growing and you can’t just rebuke everything hard. We’ve got to endure it and fight the good fight of faith and pass the test.

Good luck has its storms.

Children always turn to the light.