Each one of us has gone through difficult times. Life is hard – that’s a fact. However, it shouldn’t stop us from appreciating what we have and who we have in our lives. We must always remind ourselves to keep going, it’s the only way to get through the tough times. Here are some of the best encouraging quotes about life from people who, just like you, experienced challenges and difficulties but have managed to survive through it all.
Life Is Hard Quotes
1. Life is hard. After all, it kills you. – Katharine Hepburn
2. When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. – Henry Ford
3. After every storm the sun will smile, for every problem there is a solution, and the soul’s indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer. – William R. Alger
4. Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. – Robert Schuller
5. Nothing good comes cheaply so we shouldn’t be surprised when we meet the hard while going for the best. Hard times are not quit times. – Terry Mark
6. Don’t pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. – Bruce Lee
7. You don’t have to control your thoughts, you just have to stop letting them control you. – Dan Millman
8. A problem is a chance for you to do your best. – Duke Ellington
9. The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn. – David Russell
10. You’re going to go through tough times, that’s life. But I say, ‘Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.’ See the positive in negative events. – Joel Osteen
11. The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials. – Chinese Proverb
12. Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. – Joshua J. Marine
13. It always seems impossible until it’s done. – Nelson Mandela
14. I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship. – Louisa May Alcott
15. Luck is great, but most of life is hard work. – Iain Duncan Smith
16. Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity. – Lou Holtz
17. I have found that if you love life, life will love you back. – Arthur Rubinstein
18. Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. – Seneca
19. Life is like riding a bicycle, in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. – Albert Einstein
20. When I hear somebody say ‘Life is hard’, I am always tempted to ask ‘Compared to what?’ – Sydney J. Harris
21. Part of my act is meant to shake you up. It looks like I’m being funny, but I’m reminding you of other things. Life is tough, darling. Life is hard. And we better laugh at everything; otherwise, we’re going down the tube. – Joan Rivers
22. I believe that life is hard. That we all are going to walk through things that are hard and challenging, and yet advertising wants us to believe that it’s all easy. – Jamie Lee Curtis
23. Life is hard, but there are moments, sometimes hours and, if you’re really lucky, full days, where everything feels just right. – Andy Grammer
24. Life is hard for everyone. That’s why there’s such a nice reward at the end of it. – Aidan Quinn
25. My philosophy is: Life is hard, but God is good. Try not to confuse the two. – Anne F. Beiler
26. No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse. – Randy Pausch
27. You start with a darkness to move through but sometimes the darkness moves through you. – Dean Young
28. Life is at its best when everything has fallen out of place, and you decide that you’re going to fight to get them right, not when everything is going your way and everyone is praising you. – Thisuri Wanniarachchi
29. Faith is why I’m here today and faith is why I made it through. – Jonathan Anthony Burkett
30. You need to spend time crawling alone through shadows to truly appreciate what it is to stand in the sun. – Shaun Hick
31. Life is hard for everyone. That’s why there’s such a nice reward at the end of it. – Aidan Quinn
32. If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. – Louis D. Brandeis
33. Life is hard. It is not too short, it is too long. But you have to learn how to live; you have to have a sense of humour. – Carolina Herrera
34. We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. – Martin Luther King
35. We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. – Kenji Miyazawa
36. When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. – Henry Ford
37. The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials. – Chinese Proverb
38. Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. – Robert Schuller
39. Pain is your friend; it is your ally. Pain reminds you to finish the job and get the hell home. Pain tells you when you have been seriously wounded. And you know what the best thing about pain is? It tells you you’re not dead yet. – G.I. Jane
40. Tough times never last, but tough people do. – Robert H Schuller
41. A problem is a chance for you to do your best. – Duke Ellington
42. I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders. – Jewish Proverb
43. One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity. – Albert Schweitzer
44. Life is not always fair. Sometimes you get a splinter sliding down a rainbow. – Terri Guillemets
45. Nothing good comes cheaply so we shouldn’t be surprised when we meet the hard while going for the best. Hard times are not quit times. – Terry Mark
46. The last battle always seems the toughest and to give up will always bring the worst defeat. – Terry Mark
47. Don’t pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. – Bruce Lee
48. The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn. – David Russell
49. If you’re already in a hole, it is no use to continue digging. – Roy W. Walters
50. Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. – Thomas Edison
51. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. – Bertrand Russell
52. It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves. – Edmund Hillary
53. However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man’s abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace. – Henry David Thoreau
54. Your friends will believe in your potential, your enemies will make you live up to it. – Tim Fargo
55. It’s hard at times, but it makes a kid strong in ways that most people can’t understand. Teaches them that even though people are left behind, new ones will inevitable take their place; that every place has something good – and bad – to offer. It makes a kid grow up fast. – Nicholas Sparks
56. Life is at its best when everything has fallen out of place, and you decide that you’re going to fight to get them right, not when everything is going your way and everyone is praising you. – Thisuri Wanniarachchi
57. There had been times when he knew, somewhere in him, that he would get used to it, whatever it was, because he had learnt that some hard things became softer after a very little while. – Nick Hornby
58. We face up to awful things because we can’t go around them, or forget them. The sooner you say ‘Yes, it happened, and there’s nothing I can do about it,’ the sooner you can get on with your own life. You’ve got children to bring up. So you’ve got to get over it. What we have to get over, somehow we do. Even the worst things. – Annie Proulx
59. You start with a darkness to move through but sometimes the darkness moves through you. – Dean Young’
60. May your life be filled, as mine has been, with love and laughter, and remember, when things are rough all you need is chocolate. – Geraldine Solon
61. Often, moreover, it is that aspect of our being that society finds eccentric, ridiculous, or disagreeable, that holds our sweet waters, our secret well of happiness, the key to our equanimity in malevolent climes. – Tom Robbins
62. Sometimes you go through things that seem huge at the time, like a mysterious glowing cloud devouring your entire community. While they’re happening, they feel like the only thing that matters and you can hardly imagine that there’s a world out there that might have anything else going on. And then the glow cloud moves on. And you move on. And the event is behind you. And you may find, as time passes, that you remember it less and less. Or absolutely not at all, in my case. – Welcome to Night Vale
63. And hard times are good in their own way, too. Because the only way you can achieve true happiness is if you experience true sadness as well. It’s all about light and shade. Balance. – Gabrielle Williams
64. Affliction is a good man’s shining time. – Edward Young
65. Humor can make a serious difference. In the workplace, at home, in all areas of life – looking for a reason to laugh is necessary. A sense of humor helps us to get through the dull times, cope with the difficult times, enjoy the good times and manage the scary times. – Steve Goodier
66. Some people make a bad bed, they just have to lie in it. – Virginia Euwer Wolff
67. But there was a special kind of gift that came with embracing the chaos, even if I cursed most of the way. I’m convinced that, when everything is wiped blank, it’s life’s way of forcing you to become acquainted with and aware of who you are now, who you can become. What is the fulfillment of your soul? – Jennifer DeLucy
68. We have come here together so that you might know, through virtue of your own pain, your own hopelessness, your own fear, your own darkness and the lie of powerlessness, the very actual power of your own will, of the will of your soul. – Jennifer DeLucy
69. It’s funny how, when things seem the darkest, moments of beauty present themselves in the most unexpected places. – Karen Marie Moning
70. Every adversity brings new experiences and new lessons. – Lailah Gifty Akita
71. Accept hardship as a necessary discipline. – Lailah Gifty Akita
72. Life wasn’t easy growing up; it was frustrating. If I had been a better reader, then that would have come easily, sports would have come easily, everything would have come easily, and I never would have realized that the way you get ahead in life is hard work. – Caitlyn Jenner
73. Life is hard. It is not too short, it is too long. But you have to learn how to live; you have to have a sense of humour. – Carolina Herrera
74. I think most people have a general sense that when you’re released from prison, life is hard, but, you know, if you work hard and apply self-discipline and stay out of trouble, you can make it. But that’s true only for a relative few. – Michelle Alexander
75. I was one of those kids who thought I could be the president of England when I grew up if I wanted to. Then I started acting and realized life is hard, and people are mean. And there’s no president of England, and I’m not British. – Riley Keough
76. Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order. – David Gerrold
77. Life is hard, and a lot of people come home tired from work. If they’re gonna spend half an hour reading, they want some entertainment and a sense of achievement. So that’s what I give them. That’s all I’m trying to do. Is that really so wrong? – James Patterson
78. I think just because life is hard, it does seem fun to have a break and laugh about things, so I think in the end, my instincts go there. – Joan Cusack
79. Let the darkness find you if it must. Throw off the quick and tempting escapes, and seek help only from those who would teach you to grow, feed your soul, embrace your heart, but would not steal away your journey. – Jennifer DeLucy
80. Why wait? So precious is this life—this gift—this temporary blindness. Burn and drown and embrace the false dark, then grasp the unthinkable height of resulting joy. For in the end, in the light of truth when the flesh is cast off, there is nothing but this. – Jennifer DeLucy
81. These are hard and uncertain times we’re living in,” he said. “You never know what will still be here tomorrow. That’s why we must take joy every day in what we do have, so it’s something we can carry in our memories when things change. – Jaye L. Knight
82. Remember an arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards; so when you feel like life is dragging you down with difficulties, it simply means that it’s going to launch you to something great. So just focus and keep aiming – Megan Street
83. Everything that is tearing us down today will become a memory, and this memory will be shared as an anecdote or a story or a poem or a play or a warning. It will be shared with another human being, who will then understand that he is not alone in his sadness. This is why we show up for others and tell our tales and listen to others. The great congregation meets daily, and you are someone’s angel today. – Tennessee Williams
84. It is said that [Shakespeare’s] time was easier than ours, but I doubt it—no time can be easy if one is living through it. – James Baldwin
85. When going through or coming out of a rough patch in life, it’s important not to focus on those who did not show up for you. Be appreciative of those who rolled up their sleeves and got dirty with you. – Sanjo Jendayi
86. There is always light in the midst of the Darkness, even if it’s only a pinpoint in the distance. And when it seems as if there isn’t, it’s just an illusion. Just a lie that the Darkness wants you to believe. Break through the illusion. Remember that you’re growing through it and towards the light. You are always growing towards the light. – Millie Florence
87. If they stay away during your hard times, they should also stay away during your great times. – Gift Gugu Mona
88. When hardships keep coming back, do not take it personal. It’s just life. – Naide P Obiang
89. For all the hard times and tough challenges I faced during different periods of my life, I think I was lucky or blessed or both. When things looked bleak, a good guide would appear to set me straight. Someone once asked me about the villains who got in my way, the bad guys who wanted to trip me up or take me out. I don’t remember any. Maybe it’s my nature to remember the good and forget the bad, or maybe it’s my destiny to lock onto the righteous for help. – B.B. King
90. You may have lots of friends now, but only in tough times, will you know who the real ones are. – Mouloud Benzadi
91. Remember to turn sadness into joy, hard times into good times, struggles into accomplishments, obstacles into opportunity. – Hopal Green
92. Maybe it’s because you see people differently than you saw them before your trouble started. Maybe you wonder about them more, but in a different way, and this makes them very strange to you. Maybe you get scared and numb, because you don’t know if you can depend on people for anything, anymore. – James Baldwin
93. Biker George says that life can be hard & it’s even harder if you don’t have Christ. – Dano Janowski
94. I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders. – Jewish Proverb
95. Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are. – Arthur Golden
96. When you stand and share your story in an empowering way, your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else. – Iyanla Vanzant
97. Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. – J.K. Rowling
98. Every time you are able to find some humor in a difficult situation, you win.
99. In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. – Albert Camus
100. Life is hard, but we make it much harder. – Ryan Holiday
101. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you. – Walt Disney
102. When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t. – Thomas Edison
103. Life is not always fair. Sometimes you get a splinter sliding down a rainbow. – Terri Guillemets
104. I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me. – Tracee Ellis Ross
105. The trick is to enjoy life. Don’t wish away your days, waiting for better ones ahead. – Marjorie Pay Hinckley
106. Your past is just a story. And once you realize this, it has no power over you. – Chuck Palahniuk
107. Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong. – Sarah Dessen
108. In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive. – Lee Iacocca
109. Nobody can make you to feel inferior without your consent. – Eleanor Roosevelt
110. Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.
111. We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. – Martin Luther King
112. Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. – Albert Schweitzer
113. When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better. – Malcolm S. Forbes
114. Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice. – Wayne Dyer
115. Prosperity is a great teacher, adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it. – William Hazlitt
116. We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. – Kenji Miyazawa
117. If you don’t like something change it, if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. – Mary Engelbreit
118. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. – Frederick Douglass
119. Don’t cry for a man who’s left you; the next one may fall for your smile. – Mae West
120. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan
121. Most great people have attained their greatest success one step beyond their greatest failure. – Napoleon Hill
122. If I persist long enough I will win. – Og Mandino
123. Rise above the storm and you will find the sunshine. – Mario Fernandez
124. I’ll tell you something about tough times. They just about kill you, but if you decide to keep working at them, you’ll find your way through. – Joan Bauer
125. Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are. – Bernice Johnson Reagon
126. Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. – John Wooden
127. It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others. – Dalai Lama
128. The world is more malleable than you think and it’s waiting for you to hammer it into shape. – Bono
129. There is no education like adversity. – Benjamin Disraeli
130. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better. – Ralph Waldo Emerson