Adversity and Perseverance

Published: February 16, 2026

By Jim Lichtman
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How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.”— Yvon Chouinard

“Every new adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem”—Eric Hoffer

“Retreat, Hell! We’re just advancing in another direction.”–General O.P. Smith, UN Forces Leader, Korean War.

“I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right”–Albert Einstein.

“Of all the traps and pitfalls in life, self-disesteem is the deadliest, and the hardest to overcome; for it is a pit designed and dug by our own hands, summed up in the phrase, ‘It’s no use–I can’t do it.’ It is that good, hard, second look–taken not just for one’s own sake. but for everyone else’s too–that very often reveals that the ‘impossible’ task is quite possible.”–Dr. Maxwell Maltz

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.–Maya Angelou

Lincoln’s resume:

Failed in business in 1831 and again in 1833. Defeated for the State Legislature in 1832. Suffered a nervous breakdown in 1836. Defeated for Speaker in 1838. Defeated for Elector in 1840. Defeated for Congress in 1843 and again in 1848. Defeated for Senate in 1855 and again in 1858. Defeated for Vice President in 1856. Elected President in 1860.

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius

“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.”–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”–Eleanor Roosevelt

“Without struggle, there is no progress.”Frederick Douglass

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”–Winston Churchill

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened.”–Helen Keller

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