John Milton Quotes

One cannot run from a challenge without losing. To flee is signing a death warrant to dignity and character, and, having run, there is no return; one is a weakling forever. Meeting a challenge, though one may be defeated, gives strength, character, and a certain assurance that regardless of outcome, one will survive or go down fighting.

I've been in a lot of trouble and come out of it. I think it shows a lot of good character.

Calamity is the test of integrity.

Great necessities call out great virtues.

Life is a challenge, we must take it.

Times of calamity and distress have always been producers of the greatest men. The hardest steel is produced from the hottest fire; the brightest star shreds the darkest night.

No tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely; the fragile trees are those that have grown in a sunny valley.

Character is the virtue of hard times.

Adversity is the refiner's fire that bends iron but tempers steel.

Be the buffalo. Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee nation, once told me how the cow runs away from the storm while the buffalo charges directly toward it—and gets through it quicker. Whenever I'm confronted with a tough challenge, I do not prolong the torment. I become the buffalo.

The greatness of man cannot be seen in the hours of comfort and convenience, but rather in moments of conflict/adversity

The weak sinews become strong by their conflict with difficulties.

Do something everyday for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.

Remember, the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show their strength and their stability.

Difficulties should act as a tonic. They should spur us to greater exertion.

Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness - a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster - children into strength and athletic proportion.

I'm not the type of person to give up just because something gets rough. That's a coward. That's not me.

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.

Who hath not known ill fortune, never knew himself, or his own virtue.

Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.

Difficult times often bring out the best in people.

My life is a beautiful struggle.

Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.

How can they beat me? I've been struck by lightning, had two back operations, and been divorced twice.