Endurance in suffering doesn't grab our attention, but it is a response so important that it will have value that lasts beyond death.

There is a resiliency in the human spirit that keeps us going even when we have no reason to continue.

Where there is no hope, it is incumbent on us to invent it.

You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

Jesus was called to throw himself on the wheel of world history, so that, even though it crushed him, it might start to turn in the opposite direction. Tom Wright, The Lord and His Prayer (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1996), 69.

The more the marbles wastes, the more the statue grows.

When we did 'Breaking the Waves,' he had a sign on the wall that said, 'Make mistakes.'

Everybody has adversity in their lives and we all have to find ways of overcoming them. You've got to soldier on, make the best of it, look for the positive in everything.

The audition process is like playing games at times, where you have to pass many levels. Sometimes, you could pass the contract negotiation level, but in the end, the producer may decide to use a different actor instead.