Strength is something that can appear in both physical and mental form. Each has its obstacles and challenges but today we’re talking about the ones that don’t require pulling trucks with a rope. Just as you’ll see in this list of strength quotes, overcoming something mentally can require even more work than tackling an obstacle physically. These sayings will surely help you with that.
Quotes about strength can come from various sources, some new, some old. And no matter where it originates from, it can carry a powerful message that will apply to everyone. Here lie sayings by Winston Churchill, observations by Vincent Van Gogh, ancient wisdom by Confucius, and many more motivating quotes by the world’s strongest.
So whether it’s to instill power into yourself or to share it and support your loved ones, these inspirational quotes about strength will get the job done. Of course, it won’t do it for you, but can certainly give you that extra little push. Just enough to move you into motion and set you up for success.
So spread the word and arm yourself with these quotes about strength and courage, as they have the potential to be life-changing. Keep on pushing!
This post may include affiliate links.
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.” — Confucius
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
“Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart.” – José N. Harris
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” — Marcus Aurelius
“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.” – Steve Maraboli
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” — Buddha
“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 can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” — Maya Angelou
“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.” — Thomas A. Edison
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“The human capacity for burden is like bamboo — far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.” — Jodi Picoult
That's how parents survive children. I mean, when they try being a good parent
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. Rowling
Been there. Very few who hit rock bottom truly choose change, sadly enough.
"Do not pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." – Bruce Lee
“Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of those pieces.” — Judith Viorst
“Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.” – Drew Barrymore
“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.” – Ann Landers
“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” — Nelson Mandela
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” — Marie Curie
“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
“The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.” — Leonardo da Vinci
"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The more you care, the stronger you can be." – Jim Rohn
I feel torn by this quote. The empath finds much sorrow in feeling for others troubles or sadness.
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” — Ambrose Redmoon
“Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus
“We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward.” — Isabel Allende
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” — Edmund Hillary
"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength." – St. Francis de Sales
“True strength is keeping everything together when everyone expects you to fall apart.” — Unknown
“It’s not the absence of fear, it’s overcoming it. Sometimes you’ve got to blast through and have faith.” – Emma Watson
“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
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“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
My grandma sent Oral Roberts ten thousand dollars. He sent her a bible with the words of our lord Jesus Christ in red-- and Oral Roberts' name embossed on the front cover in gold. Other than Roberts's name, she could have gotten the same Bible at Walmart for $7.95. I'd like to meet an honest tv preacher, but I don't believe such a thing exists.
“Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.” – William Ellery Channing
“Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as true strength.” – Ralph Sockman
“Never apologize for being sensitive or emotional. Let this be a sign that you’ve got a big heart and aren’t afraid to let others see it. Showing your emotions is a sign of strength.” — Brigitte Nicole
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” – Ernest Hemingway
“Better to be strong than pretty and useless.” – Lilith Saintcrow
Why not both? Why does beauty imply weakness? Why is strength powerful? There is strength in beauty.
“Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Focus on your character, not your reputation. Focus on your blessings, not your misfortunes.” – Roy T. Bennett
“Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work though difficult problems.” — Gever Tulley
“Few men during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the resources dwelling within them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used.” – Richard E. Byrd
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” — Mother Teresa
“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” – Bruce Lee
“Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong.” – Sarah Dessen
“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” — Maya Angelou
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” – Maya Angelou
“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.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can be compassionate, so passionate they can be rational, and so disciplined they can be free.” — Kavita Ramdas
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” — Khalil Gibran
“No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That’s the only way to keep the roads clear.” — Greg Kincaid
“We are stronger, gentler, more resilient, and more beautiful than any of us imagine.” — Mark Nepo
“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
“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” — Christopher Reeve
“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
“It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf
“Don’t despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don’t – surrender to events with hope.” — Alain de Botton
“It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous – even death is terrible only if we fear it.” – Epictetus
I don't fear death. I do fear the pain of actually dying. It seems, in most cases, to hurt a lot.
“Someone I once loved gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.” – Mary Oliver
“It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way, even by death, and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment.” – Bram Stoker
“Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.” — Ralph Ellison
"Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer." – Niccolò Machiavelli
"Where is the man who has the strength to be true, and to show himself as he is?" – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity." – Albert Schweitzer
“There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” — Booker T. Washington
"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity." – Louis Pasteur
"Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." – Harriet Tubman
"Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason." – Francis Bacon
“The spirit of hope, inner strength, enthusiasm, and persistent determination are the pillars for any success.” — Lailah Gifty Akita
“What makes you different or weird, that’s your strength.” — Meryl Streep
“Go within every day and find the inner strength so that the world will not blow your candle out.” — Katherine Dunham
"Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength." – Billy Graham
It's okay to hurt. It's ok to cry because you hurt. How can you heal if you don't admit the hurt?
"Believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it." – Rainer Maria Rilke
"There is a saying in Tibetan, "Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength." No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster." – Dalai Lama
"The hard times that you go through build character, making you a much stronger person." – Rita Mero
"Talents are best nurtured in solitude, but character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“It is worth remembering that the time of greatest gain in terms of wisdom and inner strength is often that of greatest difficulty.” — Dalai Lama
"Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved." – Helen Keller
"This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble." – Ludwig van Beethoven
“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
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” — Og Mandino
“Sometimes you don’t realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness.” – Susan Gale
“The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.” – Maya Angelou
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” — Mahatma Gandhi
“All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.” – James Freeman Clarke
“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
“Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.” – Chris Bradford
“He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.” — Louisa May Alcott
“Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible – not to run away.” – Dag Hammarskjold
“Be strong. Live honorably and with dignity. When you don’t think you can, hold on.” – James Frey
“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
“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
“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.” — Peter Marshall
“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
“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.” — Hellen Keller
“This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.” – Winston Churchill
“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on, it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela
“There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.” — Charles Dickens
"The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection." – Thomas Paine
"If you haven’t the strength to impose your own terms upon life, then you must accept the terms it offers you." – T.S. Eliot
"The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him." – Psalm 28:7, ESV
"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength." – Corrie Ten Boom
“In times of crisis, people reach for meaning. Meaning is strength. Our survival may depend on our seeking and finding it.” — Dawna Markova
"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
"Faith gives you an inner strength and a sense of balance and perspective in life." – Gregory Peck
“Spending time with God is the key to our strength and success in all areas of life. Be sure that you never try to work God into your schedule, but always work your schedule around Him.” — Joyce Meyer
"If an ant carries an object a hundred times its weight, you can carry burdens many times your size." – Matshona Dhliwayo
"Religion brings to man an inner strength, spiritual light, and ineffable peace." – Alexis Carrel
Faith does this. Religion brings war. How many people can we kill in the name of our loving God?.
“The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.” — Swami Vivekananda
“Nothing is more beautiful than the smile that has struggled through the tears.” — Demi Lovato
