Feeling knocked down? These resilience quotes are the pick-me-up you need. Discover words that inspire strength, courage, and the will to rise again.
Life is beautiful and kind, but not always. Some days feel like everything’s falling into place, while some days feel like everything’s falling apart.
For those tough days, resilience becomes your best friend. It gives you the courage and strength to bounce back from failures, heartbreak, or even life just being plain unfair.
Showing resilience doesn’t mean that you never feel hurt or lost. You do but still find the will to rise despite it all. It shows up in the small victories—the days you get out of bed when you don’t feel like it, the times you keep trying even when it feels impossible.
It’s proof of the strength you carry within, even when you doubt yourself. It’s about embracing life’s hardships instead of being weighed down by them, turning them into opportunities to grow. It’s about embracing pain head-on so you can evolve into someone stronger, wiser, and more capable than before.
Resilience isn’t something you’re naturally born with—it’s a skill you build over time, shaped by every challenge you face and every storm you overcome.
Whatever your reason to be here, let me remind you—you are stronger than you think, and resilience is already within you.
Here, I’m sharing some of the most powerful pieces of wisdom passed down through time to inspire, encourage, and remind you that even the hardest days are part of your journey forward.
Resilience Quotes
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
Tough times never last, but tough people do. ~ Robert H. Schuller
Definitions have evolved over time but fundamentally resilience is understood as referring to positive adaptation, or the ability to maintain or regain mental health, despite experiencing adversity. ~ Helen Herrman
The darkest hour has only sixty minutes. ~ Morris Mandel
By practicing gratitude, we can actually wire our brains to help us build resilience. ~ Dr. Christina Costa
As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed. ~ Vincent van Gogh
We will either find a way, or make one. ~ Anibal Barca
I tried and failed. I tried again and again and succeeded. ~ Gail Borden
The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt. ~ Max Lerner
Everyone has the ability to increase resilience to stress. It requires hard work and dedication, but over time, you can equip yourself to handle whatever life throws your way without adverse effects on your health. Training your brain to manage stress won’t just affect the quality of your life, but perhaps even the length of it. ~ Amy Morin
A good half of the art of living is resilience. ~ Alain de Botton
This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure. ~ Winston Churchill
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
If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces. ~ Shane Koyczan
When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do we realise that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives. ~ A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
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.
A problem is a chance for you to do your best. ~ Duke Ellington
It’s not the strongest of a species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most resilient and responsive to change. ~ Charles Darwin
She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails. ~ Elizabeth Edwards
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. ~ Confucius
Failing well is a skill. Letting [people] do it gives them critical practice coping with a negative experience. It also gives them the opportunity to develop a kind of confidence and resilience that can only be forged in times of challenge. ~ Rachel Simmons
We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice. ~ Stephen Covey
We develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and obstacles. ~ Stephen Covey
Remember: Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up. ~ Rocky Balboa
The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived. ~ Robert Jordan
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
The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. ~ Molière
The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same. ~ Colin R. Davis
Resilience is the ability to attack while running away. ~ Wes Fessler
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. ~ Henry Ford
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. ~ Helen Keller
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. ~ Helen Keller
No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That’s the only way to keep the roads clear. ~ Greg Kincaid
Turn your wounds into wisdom. ~ Oprah Winfrey
Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a new way to stand. ~ Oprah Winfrey
The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new. ~ Socrates
It’s not the load that breaks you down; it’s the way you carry it. ~ Lou Holtz
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
It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. ~ Epictetus
The difference between a strong man and a weak one is that the former does not give up after a defeat. ~ Woodrow Wilson
It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop. ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf
The harder you fall, the higher you bounce. ~ Unknown
To experience peace does not mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life. ~ Jill Bolte Taylor
You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be. ~ Napoleon Hill
Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle. ~ Christian D. Larson
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. ~ Thomas Edison
Resilience is based on compassion for ourselves as well as compassion for others. ~ Sharon Salzberg
Be the cactus, a proof of unsubmission, and blossom amidst the fiercest environment. ~ Abhijit Naskar
Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. ~ Sam Levenson
Sometimes when you’re in a dark place, you think you’ve been buried, but you’ve actually been planted. ~ Christine Caine
You are not what happened to you. You are what you choose to become. ~ Carl Jung
Life is very interesting…in the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths. ~ Drew Barrymore
If you’re going through hell, keep going. ~ Winston Churchill
Every morning brings new potential, but if you dwell on the misfortunes of the day before, you tend to overlook tremendous opportunities. ~ Harvey Mackay
Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems. ~ Gever Tulley
I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it. ~ Maya Angelou
The sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers strength and courage as the day gets on. ~ Charles Dickens
You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. ~ Maya Angelou
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. ~ Khalil Gibran
Do not judge me by my successes. Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again. ~ Nelson Mandela
Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. ~ Elizabeth Edwards
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
When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience. ~ Jaeda Dewalt
The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. ~ Ernest Hemingway
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
Courage isn’t having the strength to go on, it is going on when you don’t have the strength. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
You don’t build psychological resilience by feeling good all the time. You build psychological resilience by getting better at feeling bad. ~ Mark Manson
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
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
Nothing is more beautiful than the smile that has struggled through the tears. ~ Demi Lovato
Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. ~ Joshua J. Marine
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. ~ Winston Churchill
Resilience is the antidote to complacency. It’s the mindset that allows you to push beyond your limits and achieve greatness. ~ David Goggins
Resilience is a choice. It’s choosing to rise above your circumstances, no matter how difficult, and become the person you’re meant to be. ~ David Goggins
Resilience isn’t just about bouncing back; it’s about bouncing forward. Use setbacks as stepping stones to propel you toward your goals. ~ David Goggins
As much as talent counts, effort counts twice. ~ Angela Duckworth
Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else. I not only have the right to stand up for myself, but I have the responsibility. I can’t ask somebody else to stand up for me if I won’t stand up for myself. And once you stand up for yourself, you’d be surprised that people say, ‘Can I be of help?’ ~ Maya Angelou
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but about learning how to dance in the rain. ~ Vivian Greene
With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. ~ Christopher Reeve
The person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation. ~ Bhagavad Gita
It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setbacks. ~ Bob Richards
You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice. ~ Bob Marley
Hard times may have held you down, but they will not last forever. When all is said and done, you will be increased. ~ Joel Osteen
Resilience is not about being unbreakable; it’s about being able to put the pieces back together and continue on with renewed hope and courage. ~ Unknown
Grief and resilience live together. ~ Michelle Obama
Failure is an important part of your growth and developing resilience. ~ Michelle Obama
I did get knocked down flat in front of the whole world, and I rose. I didn’t run away — I rose right where I’d been knocked down. And then that’s how you get to know yourself. ~ Maya Angelou
We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. ~ Kenji Miyazawa
And one has to understand that braveness is not the absence of fear but rather the strength to keep on going forward despite the fear. ~ Paulo Coelho
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
Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving; we get stronger and more resilient. ~ Dr. Steve Maraboli
A diamond is just a lump of coal that stuck to its job. ~ Leonardo da Vinci
The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists. ~ Japanese Proverb
The strongest people aren’t always the people who win, but the people who don’t give up when they lose. ~ Ashley Hodgeson
When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. ~ Peter Marshall
The human capacity for burden is like bamboo- far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance. ~ Jodi Picoult
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
At the root of resilience is the willingness to take responsibility for results. ~ Eric Greitens
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
Sometimes you don’t realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness. ~ Susan Gale
Fall seven times, stand up eight. ~ Japanese Proverb
Every ounce of confidence I have is because I tried it over and over again. And then I started getting good at it. ~ Barbara Corcoran
The strongest trees in the forest are those that have weathered the harshest storms. Similarly, resilience is built through overcoming challenges. ~ Unknown
The difference between bitterness, confusion, nostalgia – and resilience – is a plan. ~ Alain de Botton
Successful people demonstrate their resilience through their dedication to making progress every day, even if that progress is marginal. ~ Jonathan Mills
You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. ~ Marcus Aurelius
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. ~ Dale Carnegie
Only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly. ~ Robert F. Kennedy
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. ~ Marie Curie
Resilience is a precious skill. People who have it have three advantages: a belief they can influence life events, a tendency to find meaning and purpose in life’s turmoil, and a conviction they can learn from positive and negative experiences. ~ Amanda Ripley
Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. ~ Winston Churchill
Man has never made any material as resilient as the human spirit. ~ Unknown
Resilience is distinct from mere survival, and more than mere endurance. Resilience is often endurance with direction. ~ Eric Greitens
We all have battles to fight. And it’s often in those battles that we are most alive: it’s on the frontlines of our lives that we earn wisdom, create joy, forge friendships, discover happiness, find love, and do purposeful work. ~ Eric Greitens
If you are around resilient people, you’re far more likely to be resilient yourself. ~ Eric Greitens
My barn having burned down, I can now see the moon. ~ Mizuta Masahide
Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have lain dormant in its absence. ~ Herodotus
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
Action builds resilience. Inaction stokes fear. ~ Shane Parrish
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. ~ Confucius
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.
We are stronger, gentler, more resilient, and more beautiful than any of us imagine. ~ Mark Nepo
Resilience isn’t all or nothing. It comes in amounts. And no matter how resilient you are today, you can become more resilient tomorrow. ~ Karen Reivich
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. ~ Mark Twain
You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. ~ Margaret Thatcher
Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough. ~ Og Mandino
I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars. ~ Og Mandino
Out of difficulties grow miracles. ~ Jean de la Bruyere
What makes people resilient is the ability to find humor and irony in situations that would otherwise overpower you. ~ Amy Tan
There are two kinds of strength. Power and the ability to wield it is obvious, but resilience, the ability to resist power, is the other. ~ Raymond E. Feist
Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger
Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life. ~ J.K. Rowling
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
Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong. ~ Muhammad Ali
It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up. ~ Vince Lombardi
You have a right to your actions, but never to your actions’ fruits. ~ Bhagavad Gita
Resilient people immediately look at the problem and say, ‘What’s the solution?’ and ‘What is this trying to teach me?’ ~ Unknown
The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow. ~ Serena Williams
We are powerful because we have survived, and that is what it is all about — survival and growth. ~ Audre Lorde
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
I hope you never fear those mountains in the distanc. Never settle for the path of least resistance. ~ Lee Ann Womack
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
When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t. ~ Thomas A. Edison
Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. ~ Michael Jordan
You say you’re ‘depressed’ – all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective – it just means you’re human. ~ David Mitchell
Resilience is accepting your own vulnerability and working every day to overcome it. ~ Rosie Thomas
I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. ~ Michael Jordan
I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship. ~ Louisa May Alcott
There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast. ~ Charles Dickens
Resilience is the maintenance of high levels of positive affect and well-being in the face of adversity. It is not that resilient individuals never experience negative affect, but rather that the negative affect does not persist. ~ Richard Davidson
Few men during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the resources dwelling within them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used. ~ Richard E. Byrd
You can make a positive impact on the world when you maintain your equanimity, resilience, recovery, and renewal as strong and positive. ~ Amit Ray
Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on. ~ Les Brown
Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive. ~ Jamais Cascio
The moment we believe that success is determined by an ingrained level of ability as opposed to resilience and hard work, we will be brittle in the face of adversity. ~ Joshua Waitzkin
That which does not kill us makes us stronger. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Strong people alone know how to organize their suffering so as to bear only the most necessary pain. ~ Emil Dorian
Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare. ~ Angela Duckworth
I do believe in the old saying, “What does not kill you makes you stronger.” Our experiences, good and bad, make us who we are. By overcoming difficulties, we gain strength and maturity. ~ Angelina Jolie
Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day. ~ E.B. White
You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you. ~ Brian Tracy
An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming. ~ Paulo Coelho
The truth is that falling hurts. The dare is to keep being brave and feel your way back up. ~ Brené Brown
Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up. ~ Brené Brown
You can outwork 95% of people by just showing up every day. ~ Jack Butcher
Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. ~ Charles R. Swindoll
The only way to grow is to suffer. Embrace the pain and make it a part of you. ~ David Goggins
We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. ~ Isabel Allende
Resilience is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes. ~Unknown
If you think it is impossible, then it is… for you. ~ Peter Diamandis
No matter how much it hurts now, someday you will look back and realize your struggles changed your life for the better. ~ Unknown
Things do not change; we change. ~ Henry David Thoreau
What helps you persevere is your resilience and commitment. ~ Roy T. Bennett
Without commitment you’ll never start. Without consistency you’ll never finish. ~ Denzel Washington
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. ~ Albert Camus
The last of human freedoms is one’s ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances. ~ Viktor Frankl
Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. ~ C.S. Lewis
Don’t aim for consistently heroic efforts. Aim for being heroic at consistency. ~ Kelly Starrett
Sometimes carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement. ~ Albert Camus
Successful people share an uncommon persistence. ~ Shane Parrish
Stress will break people altogether if they are in the beginning too weak to stand distress, or else, if they are already strong enough to take the stress in the first place, that same stress, if they come through it, will strengthen them, temper them, and make them stronger. ~ Abraham Maslow
Don’t stop doing it until it stops working. ~ Jack Butcher
It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up. ~ Babe Ruth
We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. ~ Joseph Campbell
Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it. ~ Horace
To be nobody but yourself in a world that’s doing its best to make you somebody else is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting. ~ E. E. Cummings
Luck favors the relentless. ~ Shane Parrish
I’m inspired by people that are marginal. I’m excited by their resilience. ~ Mira Nair
In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity. ~ Albert Einstein
Visible outcomes are the result of years of effort applied in the same direction when no one is watching. It looks sexy, but it’s incredibly boring on a daily basis. ~ Shane Parrish
What looks like skill is often persistent revision. ~ James Clear
When fear rushed in, I learned how to hear my heart racing but refused to allow my feelings to sway me. That resilience came from my family. It flowed through our bloodline. ~ Coretta Scott King
It’s better to do less than you hoped than nothing at all. No zero days. ~ James Clear
The power of the brain is stronger than the pain. ~ Janna Cachola
When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place. ~ Unknown
Whatever is in me is stronger than what is out there to defeat me. ~ Caroline Myss
If we have someone who loves us – I don’t mean who indulges us, but who loves us enough to be on our side – then it’s easier to grow resilience. ~ Maya Angelou
Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall. ~ Oliver Goldsmith
The secrets are deceptively simple: consistency, patience. ~ Jack Butcher
Resiliency is something you do, more than something you have. . . You become highly resilient by continuously learning your best way of being yourself in your circumstance. ~ Al Siebert
I hope these quotes about resilience brought you a sense of comfort and inspiration and a reminder that no matter what life throws at you, you’ve got the strength to handle it—and then some.
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