101 Quotes About Strength, Resilience & Courage

Life is full of challenges that test our resilience and courage. Whether it’s obstacles feel insurmountable or just tiring, we can all use some inspiration to get through tough times. Quotes about strength and resilience can provide insight and motivation. 

One thing to remember is that strength is not measured by our physical abilities, but by the strength of our character. As Mahatma Gandhi wisely said, “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”

From inspiring words by Serena Williams on strength and resilience to quotes about courage by Eleanor Roosevelt and Nelson Mandela, this list offers a wide variety of inspirational quotes for everyone.

For more inspirational quotes, check out these lists:

• Motivational Quotes to Overcome Obstacles
• Inspirational Quotes About Books and Reading
• Inspirational Quotes From Books

2. “If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it.” ― Michael Jordan

3. “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

4. “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” ― Angela Y. Davis

5. “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

6. “Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing your fears.” ― Gillian Anderson

7. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” ― Winston Churchill

8. “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” ― Christopher Reeve 

9. “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.” — Booker T Washington

10. “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

11. “To me, fearless doesn’t mean you’re completely unafraid, and it doesn’t mean that you’re bulletproof. It means that you have a lot of fears, but you jump anyway.” ― Taylor Swift

12. “When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.” ― Thomas A. Edison

13. “That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you is the strongest and most determined.” ― Kahlil Gibran

14. “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

15. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” ― Socrates

16. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” ― Nelson Mandela

17. “We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward.” ― Isabel Allende

18. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” ― Nelson Mandela

19. “Life isn’t finding shelter in the storm. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” ― Sherrilyn Kenyon

20. “Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” ― John Quincy Adams 

22. “Nothing is more beautiful than the smile that has struggled through the tears.” ― Demi Lovato

23. “Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.” ― Muhammad Ali

24. “Grief and resilience live together.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming

25. “Life is very interesting…in the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.” ― Drew Barrymore

26. “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

27. “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” ― Albert Camus

28. “Someone I once loved gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.” ― Mary Oliver

29. “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.

30. “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

31. “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.” ― Ann Landers

32. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” ― Mahatma Ghandi

33. “Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” ― Nelson Mandela

34. “Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.” ― Gever Tulley

35. “Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.” ― Bernice Johnson Reagon

36. “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition aspired, and success achieved.” ― Helen Keller

37. “No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That’s the only way to keep the roads clear.” ― Greg Kincaid

38. “Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

39. “When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.” ― Peter Marshall

40. “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” ― Khalil Gibran

41. “The human capacity for burden is like bamboo – far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.” ― Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper

42. “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me.” ― Walt Disney

44. “It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.” ― Vincent Van Gogh

45. “The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination.” ― Maya Angelou

46. “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ― Lao Tzu

47. “The value of love will always be stronger than the value of hate.” ― Franklin D. Roosevelt

48. “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” ― Maya Angelou

49. “I’ve learned to rely on the strength I inherited from all those who came before me — the grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and brothers who were tested with unimaginable hardships and still survived.” ― Oprah Winfrey

50. “Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” — Misty Copeland

51. “Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Focus on your character, not your reputation. Focus on your blessings, not your misfortunes.” — Roy T. Bennett

52. “Out of difficulties grow miracles.” ― Jean de la Bruyere

53. “I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.” ― Audrey Hepburn

54. “With each passing day, I didn’t lose hope. I fought to have more.” ― Amy Tan

55. “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

56. “Don’t despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don’t – surrender to events with hope.” ― Alain de Botton

57. “What makes you different or weird, that’s your strength.” ― Meryl Streep

58. “Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

59. “When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope.” ― Pittacus Lore, I Am Number Four

60. “Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

63. “Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” ― Oprah Winfrey

64. “A brave man acknowledges the strength of others.” ― Veronica Roth

65. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” ― Maya Angelou

66. “The act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty.” ― Malcolm Gladwell

67. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

68. “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” ― Edmund Hillary

69. “Don’t mistake politeness for lack of strength.” ― Sonia Sotomayor

70. “This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.” ― Winston Churchill

71. “Only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.” ― Robert F. Kennedy

72. “We will either find a way, or make one.” ― Anibal Barca

73. “Life is tough my darling, but so are you.” ― ​Stephanie Bennett Henry

74. “True nobility is being superior to your former self.” ― W.L. Sheldon

75. “It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature.” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula

76. “Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life.” ― J.K. Rowling

77. “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” ― Abraham Lincoln

78. “I say that the strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.” ― George Eliot

79. “It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

80. “Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.” ― Francis de Sales

81. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

84. “Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong.” ― Sarah Dessen

85. “Life is made of so many moments that mean nothing. Then one day, a single moment comes along to define every second that comes after. Such moments are tests of courage, of strength.” – Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

86. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” ― Nelson Mandela

87. “If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help.” ― John F. Kennedy

88. “Courage is an inner resolution to go forward in spite of obstacles and frightening situations.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr.

89. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.” ― Mark Twain

90. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” ― Maya Angelou

91. “Courage isn’t having the strength to go on, it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

92. “Life shrinks or expands according to one’s courage.” ― Anaïs Nin

93. “Courage is found in unlikely places.” ― J.R.R. Tolkein, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

94. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” ― Ambrose Redmoon

95. “Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.” ― John Quincy Adams

96. “There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

97. “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

98. “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.” ― Bob Marley

99. “As for courage and will — we cannot measure how much of each lies within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through trials which may lie ahead.” ― Andre Norton

100. “When danger is far off we may think of our weakness; when it is near we must not forget our strength.” ― Winston Churchill

101. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” ― William Faulkner