Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. See our disclosure for more info.
Are you facing difficult times? Reading uplifting quotes is a great way to shift your mindset and turn things around.
Setbacks, failures, and tragedies are parts of life we all have to face at some point, but these stretches of difficulty are just moments of time that will soon pass.
If you’re going through a rough time, finding something to give you a little lift can help you remember that life isn’t always bad.
So whatever you’re facing, this list of uplifting quotes for difficult times is here to inspire you and lift you up whenever you need it to.
Top 10 Uplifting Quotes
Storms make trees take deeper roots.
Dolly Parton
Gray skies are just clouds passing over.
Duke Ellington
We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.
Jim Rohn
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
Duke Ellington
He knows not his own strength who hath not met adversity.
William Samuel Johnson
The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.
Nelson Mandela
We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Uplifting Quotes and Sayings
Life has a way of kicking us when we’re down, but reading uplifting quotes will help you pick yourself up again. Here are some of the quotes the KIM team uses when they need a pick-me-up.
Whether we manage to find joy in the daily struggle of life and achieve success is largely dependent on our ability to forge through the toughest moments without giving up.
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
Henry Ford
Most great people have attained their greatest success one step beyond their greatest failure.
Napoleon Hill
Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Have great hopes and dare to go all out for them. Have great dreams and dare to live them. Have tremendous expectations and believe in them.
Norman Vincent Peale
We should always pray for help, but we should always listen for inspiration and impression to proceed in ways different from those we may have thought of.
John H. Groberg
Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.
Leroy Satchel Paige
It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed.
Doe Zantamata
Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.
Dale Carnegie
I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.
Og Mandino
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
Robert F. Kennnedy
The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them.
Unknown
Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing.
L.M. Montgomery
Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.
Golda Mier
Let perseverance be your engine and hope your fuel.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Believe you can and you’re halfway there.
Teddy Roosevelt
In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein
Nothing I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me.
Audre Lorde
I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.
Jewish Proverb
Your dreams don’t have to be lofty; they just have to be lived.
Kelly Bouchard
A big part of being a well-adjusted person is accepting that you can’t be good at everything.
Kelly Williams Brown
If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
Frank A. Clark
Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.
Elie Weisel
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.
Chinese Proverb
Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.
Christopher Reeve
Light tomorrow with today.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.
Les Brown
The oak sleeps in the acorn. The bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of reality.
Napoleon Hill
Every adversity, every failure and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit.
Napoleon Hill
The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.
Ayn Rand
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
Truman Capote
All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.
Earl Nightingale
Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.
Albert Schweitzer
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
William James
If you embrace your flaws, nobody can use them against you.
Cara Alwill Leyba
Never give in. Never, never, never.
Winston Churchill
Use what you’ve been through as fuel, believe in yourself and be unstoppable!
Yvonne Pierre
The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.
Epictetus
The best way to get rid of the pain is to feel the pain. And when you feel the pain and go beyond it, you’ll see there’s a very intense love that is wanting to awaken itself.
Deepak Chopra
We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.
Kenji Miyazawa
It’s not exactly like you thought it would be, you think it’s a failure. What about the spectrum of colors in between.
Sara Evans
It doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as you don’t stop.
Confucius
If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
Mary Engelbreit
People who wonder whether the glass is half empty or half full miss the point. The glass is refillable.
Simon Sinek
I learned there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead, others come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready, you see. Now my troubles are going to have trouble with me.
Dr. Seuss
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden
You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.
James Allen
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost
Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day, saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’
Mary Anne Radmacher
The human capacity for burden is like bamboo – far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.
Jodi Picoult
I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.
Maya Angelou
On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail and begin.
Gregory S. Williams
The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.
Robert Jordan
When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setbacks.
Bob Richards
My barn having burned down, I can now see the moon.
Mizuta Masahide
If you’re going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill
We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.
Charles R. Swindoll
Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life.
J.K. Rowling
When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best – that is inspiration.
Robert Bresson
What helps you persevere is your resilience and commitment.
Roy T. Bennett
If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces.
Shane Koyczan
Nothing is more beautiful than the smile that has struggled through the tears.
Demi Lovato
There is meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
Thomas Edison
He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.
Louisa May Alcott
We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.
Stepen Covey
When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience.
Jaeda Dewalt
Resilience is based on compassion for ourselves as well as compassion for others.
Sharon Salzberg
I realized sometimes the worst possible thing isn’t really that bad.
Ben Shenkman,
Billions
Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.
Leo Buscaglia
Hard Times Quotes
Everyone faces hard times, but it’s how we respond to them tat makes us who we are.
There are many different ways to react to hard times, and learning how to respond to difficulties is a key to better living.
These quotes are here to lift you up when things get hard so you can find a way to make them easier again.
Hard times may have held you down, but they will not last forever. When all is said and done, you will be increased.
Joel Osteen
Hard times are sometimes blessings in disguise. We do have to suffer but in the end it makes us strong, better and wise.
Anurag Prakash Ray
The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.
Seneca
Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.
Publilius Syrus
Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.
Coco Chanel
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
Hard times are like thunder. They make a lot of noise but do little harm. Don’t fear hard times.
Debasish Mridha
Hard times lifts the seeking souls to higher spiritual realms.
Lailah Gifty Akita
The hard times that you go through build character, making you a much stronger person.
Rita Mero
Hard times always lead to something great.
Betsey Johnson
The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.
Ulysses S. Grant
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
Helen Keller
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
Prosperity is not without many fears and disasters; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.
Francis Bacon
Hard times build determination and inner strength. Through them we can also come to appreciate the uselessness of anger.
Dalai Lama
Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.
Gever Tulley
It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
Michael Jordan
Confidence, courage and determined spirit are vital for surviving hard times.
Lailah Gifty Akita
Man is fond of counting his troubles but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up, as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Defeat is simply a signal to press onward.
Helen Keller
Rise above the storm and you will find the sunshine.
Mario Fernandez
When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this – you haven’t.
Thomas Edison
Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.
Ovid
You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.
Margaret Thatcher
I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.
Abraham Lincoln
You’ll have bad times, but it’ll always wake you up to the good stuff you weren’t paying attention to.
Robin Williams
Hard times may have held you down, but they will not last forever. When all is said and done, you will be increased.
Ernest Hemingway
The best is yet to be.
Robert Browning
Bad decisions make good stories.
Ellis Vidler
There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.
Buckminster Fuller
A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.
David Brinkley
Tough Times Quotes
If you’re dealing with tough times and quotes don’t seem like enough, also see our guide to the 6 Kinds of Adversity and how to overcome them.
When the going gets tough – the tough get going!
Joe Kennedy
Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.
C. S. Lewis
To succeed, you have to do something and be very bad at it for a while. You have to look bad before you can look really good.
Barbara DeAngelis
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
Randy Pausch
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
Mahatma Gandhi
All of life is a test and we all have our challenges to meet.
Marjory Sheba
Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.
Roy T. Bennett
Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.
Zahid Abas
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
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.
Alice Walker
If Plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters.
Claire Cook
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.
Khalil Gibran
When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Some roses grow through concrete. Remember that.
Brandi L. Bates
On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail and begin.
Gregory S. Williams
Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
Carl Bard
Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss.
Alexandre Dumas
Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there.
Robert Downey, Jr.
We must meet the challenge rather than wish it were not before us.
William J. Brennan, Jr
Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.
William Ellery Channing
If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.
Mario Andretti
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
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
Going through challenging things can teach you a lot, and they also make you appreciate the times that aren’t so challenging.
Carrie Fisher
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson
What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.
Oscar Wilde
Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.
Joseph Campbell
We hope these uplifting quotes give you build the resilience you need to face life’s challenges and hardships.
There’s nothing wrong with needing a little lift from time to time. The hard times won’t be hard forever, and the sun shines again after even the biggest storms.
So keep your head up and get ready to enjoy better times on the other side of the difficult ones. It’s never too late to pick yourself up or uplift someone else who needs it.
