Inner strength gets us through the tough times in life and prevents us from giving up. However, sometimes challenging events beat us down so much that we feel weak and defeated. Perhaps you’re dealing with a health problem, painful rejection, or the death of a loved one.
Whatever it is that you’re struggling with right now, know that things will soon turn around. Adversity is a part of life, but it doesn’t stay around forever. In these times of hopelessness, we need to focus on ourselves and search deep inside to find our inner strength. No matter how weak you feel right now, I promise you that within you lies an infinite amount of inner strength, waiting to be called upon.
However, although this abundance of vigor is always there, you can only use it if you know how to tap into its power. One way to draw out your inner strength is reading quotes about being strong. The following list of inspirational sayings come from others who have felt the depth of despair and pulled through.
Allow these quotes about being strong, and the stories behind them inspire you to tap into your own personal power and rise from the ashes like a phoenix.
1. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” — Steve Jobs
2. “You make a choice: continue living your life feeling muddled in this abyss of self—misunderstanding, or you find your identity independent of it. You draw your own box.” — Duchess Meghan
3. “You don’t have to be defined or confined by your environment, by your family circumstances, and certainly not by your race or gender.” — Mariah Carey
4. “You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your script.” — Oprah Winfrey
5. “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” — Lao Tzu
6. “When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?” — Sydney Harris
7. “We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” — Joseph Campbell
8. “We have to be better. We have to love more, hate less. We’ve gotta listen more and talk less. We’ve gotta know that this is everybody’s responsibility.” — Meghan Rapinoe
9. “Trying to grow up is hurting. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them, and when you don’t, it hurts even more.” — Aretha Franklin
10. “Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.” — John Wayne
11. “Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain… To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices — today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.” — Kevyn Aucoin
12. “There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.” — Josiah Gilbert Holland
13. “The simple act of listening to someone and making them feel as if they have truly been heard is a most treasured gift.” — L. A. Villafane
14. “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.” — Ben Okri
15. “The difference between a successful person and others is not lack of strength not a lack of knowledge but rather a lack of will.” — Vince Lombardi
16. “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” — Francis of Assisi
17. “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” — Warren Buffett
18. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” — Vince Lombardi
19. “People tell you the world looks a certain way. Parents tell you how to think. Schools tell you how to think. TV. Religion. And then at a certain point, if you’re lucky, you realize you can make up your own mind. Nobody sets the rules but you. You can design your own life.” — Carrie—Anne Moss
20. “People tell you the world looks a certain way. Parents tell you how to think. Schools tell you how to think. TV. Religion. And then at a certain point, if you’re lucky, you realize you can make up your own mind. Nobody sets the rules but you. You can design your own life.” — Carrie Ann Moss
21. “”My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”” — Maya Angelou
22. “Look at the sparrows; they do not know what they will do in the next moment. Let us literally live from moment to moment.” — Mahatma Gandhi
23. “Live each day as if your life had just begun.” — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
24. “Life has got all those twists and turns. You’ve got to hold on tight and off you go.” — Nicole Kidman
25. “Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen—that stillness becomes a radiance.” — Morgan Freeman
26. “Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” — Ella Fitzgerald
27. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” — George Eliot
28. “In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.” — Sir Francis Bacon
29. “I’m not going to continue knocking that old door that doesn’t open for me. I’m going to create my own door and walk through that.” — Ava DuVernay
30. “”I’m going to be gone one day, and I have to accept that tomorrow isn’t promised. Am I OK with how I’m living today? It’s the only thing I can help. If I didn’t have another one, what have I done with all my todays? Am I doing a good job?”” — Hayley Williams
31. “If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” — Roald Dahl
32. “I tell myself, ‘You’ve been through so much, you’ve endured so much, time will allow me to heal, and soon this will be just another memory that made me the strong woman, athlete, and mother I am today.” — Serena Williams
33. “I just want you to know that if you are out there and you are being really hard on yourself right now for something that has happened … it’s normal. That is what is going to happen to you in life. No one gets through unscathed. We are all going to have a few scratches on us. Please be kind to yourselves and stand up for yourself, please.” — Taylor Swift
34. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” — Rosa Parks
35. “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” — Jimmy Dean
36. “I believe there’s an inner power that makes winners or losers. And the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their hearts.” — Sylvester Stallone
37. “I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.” — Henry Rollins
38. “I believe that if you’ll just stand up and go, life will open up for you. Something just motivates you to keep moving.” — Tina Turner
39. “Find out who you are and be that person. That’s what your soul was put on this earth to be. Find that truth, live that truth, and everything else will come.” — Ellen DeGeneres
40. “”Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”” — Martin Luther
41. “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.” — Winston Churchill
42. “Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” — Rabindranath Tagore
43. “Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.” — William James
44. “Be courageous. Challenge orthodoxy. Stand up for what you believe in. When you are in your rocking chair talking to your grandchildren many years from now, be sure you have a good story to tell.” — Amal Clooney
45. “At the end of the day, whether or not those people are comfortable with how you’re living your life doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you’re comfortable with it.” — Dr. Phil
46. “And above all things, never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.” — Isaac Asimov
47. “”All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.”” — Earl Nightingale
48. “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” — Marcus Aurelius
49. “I am so fresh in soul and spirit that life gushes and bubbles around me in a thousand springs.” — Robert Schumann
50. “On the recollection of so many and great favours and blessings, I now, with a high sense of gratitude, presume to offer up my sincere thanks to the Almighty, the Creator and Preserver.” – William Bartram
Reading quotes about being strong can help take you from a hopeless and pessimistic mindset to a positive, fighting spirit. These sayings will make you realize that you must fight in the face of adversity rather than lay down and surrender.
As human beings, we have the strength to make it through anything. And with every challenge we experience, we become stronger and more resilient. So although right now it may not feel like it, what you’re going through is molding you into the most unbreakable version of yourself. Don’t give up!
