We offer the following quotations as potential sources of inspiration and food-for-thought. If you have a quote on some aspect of resilience that you would like to share with others, please let us know via our Contact Us form.
- Resilient Teams
Resilient teams are just as important to businesses as resilient individuals, but while individual resilience is built independently, team resiliency must be carefully cultivated by leadership.
–Harvard Business Review (July 2019) - Lifestyle Choice
Resilience … is a lifestyle choice.
—Don Grossnickle, Unbreakable Resilience - Yours in Abundance
May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.
—Jude 1:2 - Talent and Effort
As much as talent counts, effort counts twice.
—Angela Duckworth - Founts of Hope
What gives me hope? Young people, the resilience of nature, and the human brain.
—Jane Goodall, ‘The Beat’ Interview (December 2022) - Within Our Grasp
Resilience is not something that”s just a matter of grit and determination, and it’s not a matter of writing a prescription. It’s hard work! But the answer – the promised land – is within our grasp.
—Jack Shonkoff MD, Resilience (KPJR Films) - When life goes “right” …
One doesn’t learn much resilience when life goes “right” most of the time.
—Barbara Becker, Heartwood - Courage to Suffer
But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.
—Viktor Frankl - Encountering Hardships
We all encounter hardships. Some we see coming – others take us by surprise. It can be as tragic as the sudden death of a child, as heartbreaking as a relationship that unravels, or as disappointing as a dream that goes unfulfilled. The question is: When these things happen, what do we do next?
—Sheryl Sandberg - No two leaves …
In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike.
And no two journeys along the same path are alike.
—Paulo Coelho - Having a Backbone
Resilience is the strength and speed of our response to adversity – and we can build it. It isn’t about having a backbone. It’s about strengthening the muscles around our backbone.
—Sheryl Sandberg - Flexible Strength
The bamboo that bends in stronger than the oak that resists.
—Japanese Proverb - What’s possible
Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
—Saint Francis of Assisi - Dare to fail …
Only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.
—Robert F. Kennedy - Rock Bottom
Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
—J.K. Rowling - The Inner Core
The “soul” is that still point at the heart of every person, that deepest center, that point of encounter with the transcendent yet incarnate mystery of God. When the soul is healthy, it is in a living relationship with God; it is firmly rooted in the soil of meaning and is the deepest center of the person.
—Bishop Robert Barron, Lenten Gospel Reflection (3/24/2020) - Change
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
―Viktor Frankl - Root Structure
Make your root structure around real people.
—Arthur Brooks, Strength to Strength - Impact of Hardship
Hardship often prepares ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.
—C.S. Lewis - Freedom to Choose
Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.
—Viktor Frankl