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. You say, hmm, I can get up!
I just get up again when I fall down.
The one who doesn't fall, doesn't stand up.
One who does not fall, does not stand up.
Great people are not people who have never fallen down. Greatness has to do with how you get back up.
The ability to get to a higher level in our life means that we have to generate the energy to be able to do so, and generally, we do that by a fall. Spiritual advances are almost always proceeded by a fall of one kind or another.
To me this is the first principle of life, the foundational principle, and a lesson you can't learn at the feet of any wise man: Get up! The art of living is simply getting up after you've been knocked down.
Life isn't about the number of times you're knocked down, it's about the number of times you get back up.
We fall, but we get up because the ground is no place for a champion.
