Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.
A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.
A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.
Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the will-whatever we may think.
To act coolly, intelligently and prudently in perilous circumstances is the test of a man - and also a nation.
So often we try to alter circumstances to suit ourselves, instead of letting them alter us, which is what they are meant to do.
Our Lord did not try to alter circumstances. He submitted to them. They shaped his life and eventually brought him to Calvary. I believe we miss opportunities and lovely secrets our Lord is waiting to teach us by not taking what comes.
I am I plus my circumstances.
Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good action; try to use ordinary situations.
To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.
If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that every experience develops some latent force within you, you will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your circumstances may seem to be.
A man with a surplus can control circumstances, but a man without a surplus is controlled by them, and often has no opportunity to exercise judgment.
Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.
Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter.
The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man... It is more powerful than external circumstances.