Motivational quotes for hard times
When things are genuinely hard, most motivational quotes feel like being shouted at by a poster. These are quieter. Some are about getting through the day, some are about the dark part, a few are about strength, and none of them will tell you to smile.
For getting through today
Not the year, not the month. Just today.
We must go on, because we can't turn back.
Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
There's something freeing in how little choice this line gives you. You don't have to feel brave. There's only one direction available.
Define yourself by your effort, not your suffering.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
Even when nothing is left for us, still we have to go on living.
Rabindranath Tagore, The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories
It's not failure until you give up.
Derek Sivers, How to Live
For the darkest stretch
For when it's not a bad day but a bad season, and you can't see the end of it.
One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.
Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam
Above the cloud with its shadow is the star with its light.
Victor Hugo
And though in your winter you deny your spring, Yet spring, reposing within you, smiles in her drowsiness and is not offended.
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
A lovely idea, that the better version of things is still in there, and isn't even offended that you've stopped believing in it.
Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 30:5, World English Bible
For remembering you're stronger than this
You are stronger than you know.
Julian Gough, End Poem
It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature.
Bram Stoker, Dracula
Of all the places to find a hopeful line about people, a vampire novel is not the obvious one. But Stoker's characters spend most of the book frightened and exhausted, and keep going anyway, which is more or less the point.
Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage.
William Ellery Channing
To be feared of a thing and yet to do it, is what makes the prettiest kind of a man.
Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped
For when it hurts
Some pain doesn't need fixing or reframing. It needs company.
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
Isaiah 40:29, World English Bible
For the days when small is all you've got
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography
A small piece of history: Roosevelt wasn't claiming this one. In his autobiography he credits it to Squire Bill Widener of Widener's Valley, Virginia, and it has been hung on Roosevelt ever since. It's a good line either way, and a kind one. It asks for what you can do, not what you did last year.
The feeling of progress is one of the best feelings of all. This is true even when progress is small.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
On a hard day, getting dressed counts. So does answering one message, or eating something that isn't crackers. Count it.
If it's more than a hard week
Quotes can keep you company. They aren't a treatment, and nobody should have to get through a crisis with a list of them. If things have felt dark for weeks, or you're struggling to function, please talk to a doctor, a therapist or someone you trust.
If you're thinking about ending your life or hurting yourself, reach out right now. In the US, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
For the ordinary hard weeks, Dailies has topics written for exactly this, including One hard day at a time, On a low day and When you're carrying grief. It keeps the lines coming quietly in the background, without asking anything of you.
Questions
What is a good quote for hard times?
It depends on what kind of hard. For just getting through, Robert Louis Stevenson's "We must go on, because we can't turn back" is hard to beat. For a long dark stretch, Kahlil Gibran's "One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night" is one many people keep.
Where does "joy comes in the morning" come from?
Psalm 30:5 in the Bible. In the World English Bible it reads: "Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning."
Did Theodore Roosevelt say "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are"?
He wrote it in his autobiography, but he attributed it to someone else: Squire Bill Widener of Widener's Valley, Virginia. It is usually quoted as Roosevelt's.
What do you say to someone going through a hard time?
Usually less than you think. "I'm here" and "that sounds really hard" do more than advice. If you want to share a quote, choose one that keeps them company rather than one that tells them how to feel.
Keep reading
Start today with something good.
Set it up once. Dailies takes it from there.
