The biggest trees look intimidating until you swing your axe.

The greater the pressure the brighter the diamond.

The harder you fall, the stronger you rise.

You are only greater than what you overcome.

Your greatest highs come from overcoming your greatest lows.

He saw you cast into a river of life you didn't request. He saw you betrayed by those you love. He saw you with a body that gets sick and a heart that grows weak. He saw you in your own garden of gnarled trees and sleeping friends. He saw you staring into the pit of your own failures and the mouth of your own grave. He saw you in your own garden of Gethsemane and he didn't want you to be alone ... He would rather go to hell for you than to heaven without you.

The idea of overcoming is always fascinating to me. It's fascinating because few of us realize how much energy we have expended just to be here today. I don't think we give ourselves enough credit for the overcoming.

You may encounter defeats, but you must not be defeated.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.

True faith is forged in the furnace, not the showroom.

Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challanges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful. —Mark Victor Hansen