Quotes about Resilience
If therefore thou use not on all sides the shield of patience, thou wilt not remain long unwounded.
— Thomas a Kempis
not thyself to attain much rest, but much patience.
— Thomas a Kempis
Why doth a little thing spoken against thee make thee sad? If it had been more, thou still oughtest not to be moved. But now suffer it to go by; it is not the first, it is not new, and it will not be the last, if thou live long. Thou art brave enough, so long as no adversity meeteth thee. Thou givest good counsel also, and knowest how to strengthen others with thy words; but when tribulation suddenly knocketh at thine own door, thy counsel and strength fail.
— Thomas a Kempis
There is no man wholly free from temptations so long as he liveth, because we have the root of temptation within ourselves, in that we are born in concupiscence. One temptation or sorrow passeth, and another cometh; and always we shall have somewhat to suffer, for we have fallen from perfect happiness. Many who seek to fly from temptations fall yet more deeply into them. By flight alone we cannot overcome, but by endurance and true humility we are made stronger than all our enemies.
— Thomas a Kempis
Occasions of adversity best discover how great virtue or strength each one hath. For occasions do not make a man frail, but they reveal what he is.
— Thomas a Kempis
Good comes out of evil.
— Thomas a Kempis
My mind is steadfastly fixed, and it is grounded in Christ."(2) If thus it were with me, the fear of man should not so easily tempt me, nor the arrows of words move me.
— Thomas a Kempis
The beginning of all temptations to evil is instability of temper and want of trust in God;
— Thomas a Kempis
It is not in the nature of man to bear the cross, to love the cross, to keep under the body and to bring it into subjection, to fly from honours, to bear reproaches meekly, to despise self and desire to be despised, to bear all adversities and losses, and to desire no prosperity in this world.
— Thomas a Kempis
Who is forced to struggle more than he who tries to master himself? This ought to be our purpose, then: to conquer self, to become stronger each day, to advance in virtue.
— Thomas a Kempis
For when the grace of God cometh to a man, then he becometh able to do all things, and when it departeth then he will be poor and weak and given up unto troubles. In these thou art not to be cast down nor to despair, but to rest with calm mind on the will of God, and to bear all things which come upon thee unto the praise of Jesus Christ; for after winter cometh summer, after night returneth day, after the tempest a great calm.
— Thomas a Kempis
Were God Himself the sole and constant object of our desire, we should not be so easily distressed when our opinions are contradicted.
— Thomas a Kempis