The way you face life’s challenges ultimately defines you as a person. Here are 25 quotes about strength that will help you develop resilience.

There are certain moments in our lives when our self-resilience is being tested. That’s when we discover just how much we are capable of and how much inner strength we possess.

How many times have you heard tragic life stories thinking that if something similar should happen to you, you wouldn’t be able to get over it? Yet, whenever life strikes, you manage to stand on your two feet and carry on. You’ve been broken, but eventually picked up all the pieces and mend yourself back together.

The way you face life’s challenges builds you up and ultimately defines you as a person. Our strength comes from past and ugly experiences. We can only assume that we have what it takes to overcome obstacles, but we’ll never know for sure until we’re actually facing them. Still, a positive outlook on life can do wonders when the going gets tough.

We’ve gathered some amazing quotes about strength as reminders that whatever you’re going through, you’ve got this! You have the necessary strength, you just need to dig a little deeper.

Here are 60 quotes about strength that will help you develop self-resilience:

Inspirational quotes about strength

Setbacks and challenges are an inevitable part of life and finding inner strength during hard times can sometimes feel impossible. We have no control over what life throws our way, but we do have a choice in how we react in the face of hardships. We can decide to face them boldly, by tapping into the strength that lives within all of us, or we can let the tough times defeat us. If you’re currently weathering a storm, know that you are not alone and that you have what it takes to get through. If your resilience has been tested recently and you feel depleted, these inspirational quotes about strength and courage will hopefully encourage you to stay strong and push through whatever obstacles you’re facing.

You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.

BOB MARLEY (MORE BOB MARLEY QUOTES)

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me…. 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

Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.

MAYA ANGELOU

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. 

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.

John Steinbeck
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Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.

DREW BARRYMORE

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT (more Eleanor Roosevelt quotes)

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

The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.

THOMAS PAINE

 My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.

MICHEAL JORDAN

Courage isn’t having the strength to go on. It is going on when you don’t have strength.

NAPOLÉON BONAPARTE

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

CHRISTOPHER REEVE

When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.

THOMAS EDISON

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

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.

WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.

KAHLIL GIBRAN (more Kahlil Gibran quotes)

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

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ’Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.

THOMAS PAINE

Strong people alone know how to organize their suffering so as to bear only the most necessary pain.

EMIL DORIAN

Strength quotes for women

Throughout history, have strong, trailblazing women have fought for social, political and professional equality — paving the way for future generations. There has been a lot of great progress, and none of it would have been possible without their contributions. When life gets tough, it can be both soothing and empowering to read the words of women that have overcome adversity before us. These quotes about the strength of women will lift you up when you’re feeling blue, and remind you what you’re capable of.

Nothing I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me.

AUDRE LORDE


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

At any given moment you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end.

CHRISTINE MASON MILLER

And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears.

MARK ANTHONY

A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.

MELINDA GATES

For what it’s worth: It’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over again.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (more F. Scott Fitzgerald quotes)

Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.

MISTY COPELAND

I am a Woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal Woman, that’s me.

MAYA ANGELOU

Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.

AMELIA EARHART

She was powerful not because she wasn’t scared but because she went on so strongly, despite the fear.

ATTICUS

Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.

NORAH EPHRON

Women are never stronger than when they arm themselves with their weaknesses.

Madame Marie du Deffand

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

Motivational strength quotes to get you pumped

Motivation isn’t always easy to find, especially when life delivers devastating blows that knock us down. When facing adversity, in what can be some of our most vulnerable moments, we might wonder if we will ever feel strong again. The answer is yes! See, we have no control over what challenges come our way but we do have a say in how we handle them. This is wherein lies the opportunity to develop the mental strength, courage and resilience needed to confront future obstacles. Here are some motivational quotes about strength that have the power of inspiring hope when it feels like there is none.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

MAHATMA GANDHI (MORE GANDHI QUOTES)

Instead of letting your hardships and failures discourage or exhaust you, let them inspire you. Let them make you even hungrier to succeed.

MICHELLE OBAMA

The harder you fall, the heavier your heart; the heavier your heart, the stronger you climb; the stronger you climb, the higher your pedestal.

CRISS JAMI

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

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

HELEN KELLER

Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragement, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.

THOMAS CARLYLE

“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

Make up your mind that no matter what comes your way, no matter how difficult, no matter how unfair, you will do more than simply survive. You will thrive in spite of it.

JOEL OSTEEN

Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.

WINNIE THE POOH

It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.

ISAAC ASIMOV

Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.

STEVE MARABOLI

Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go. 

HERMANN HESSE

You have power over your mind  not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

MARCUS AURELIUS

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed. 

VINCENT VAN GOGH

Short quotes about strength

We all have those moments in life when it’s tempting to just throw in the towel because things are just too uncomfortable to deal with. Usually, when that feeling comes up, the most important thing to do is quite the opposite. It’s imperative to stay strong and push forward – transforming adversity into opportunity.

A short, meaningful quote can help remind us that facing hardships is a universal human experience, and can have a powerful effect on your thinking and behaviour. Some of the best minds before us have been able to succinctly express nuggets of wisdom that continue to inspire and comfort generations. Here are some of them.

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

MOTHER TERESA

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

Frederick Douglass

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (MORE FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE QUOTES)

Fall seven times, get up eight.

JAPANESE PROVERB

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.

OPRAH WINFREY

We acquire the strength we have overcome.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON (MORE RALPH WALDO EMERSON QUOTES)

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.

NAPOLEON HILL

A quiet conscience makes one strong!

ANNE FRANK

In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.

BRUCE LEE

You feel your strength in the experience of pain.

JIM MORRISON

 Rule your mind or it will rule you.

HORACE