Quotes About Setbacks, Challenges, and Obstacles

“If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”

— Unknown

“You don’t drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.”

— Unknown

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”

— Michael Jordan

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”

— Dolly Parton

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”

— Albert Einstein

“Sometimes the winds of change are a hurricane.”

— Derek Sivers

“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”

— African Proverb

“If at first you don’t succeed, you are running about average.”

— M.H. Alderson

“Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.”

— Norman Vincent Peale

“Don’t be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.”

— Unknown

“When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound. Rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.”

— Napoleon Hill

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

— Margaret Thatcher

“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.”

— Vince Lombardi

“Obstacles are those frightening things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.”

— Henry Ford

“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, 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

“Stumbling is not falling.”

— Portuguese Proverb

“Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.”

— Thomas Edison

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”

— Japanese Proverb

“Life’s problems wouldn’t be called hurdles if there wasn’t a way to get over them.”

— Unknown

“Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.”

— Robert C. Gallagher

“Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but you’ve actually been planted.” 

— Christine Caine

“The next best thing to winning is losing! At least you’ve been in the race.”

— Nellie Hershey Tullis

“The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places.”

— Unknown

“Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

— Oliver Goldsmith

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

— Thomas Edison

“Everyone faces defeat. It may be a stepping-stone or a stumbling block, depending on the mental attitude with which it is faced.”

— Napoleon Hill

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.”

— Proverb

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”

— Babe Ruth

“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed.”

— Booker T. Washington

“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.”

— Louise May Alcott 

“The difficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter.”

— Unknown

“This too will pass.”

— Persian Proverb

“Nobody’s going to win all the time. On the highway of life you can’t always be in the fast lane.”

— Haruki Murakami

“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.”

— Henry Ford

“It never gets easier; you just get better.”

— Unknown

“You have to have the bad days to appreciate the good ones.”

— Unknown

“I never lose. Either I win or learn.”

— Nelson Mandela

“If you believe it will work out, you will see opportunities. If you believe it won’t, you will see obstacles.”

— Wayne Dyer

“The person that tried his best and failed is superior to the person who never tried.”

— Bud Wilkinson

“Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.”

— Denis Waitley

“Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.”

— Abigail Adams

“One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged.”

— Lucille Ball

“The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.”

— Les Brown

“As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

— William Faulkner

“Sometimes, when you fall, you fly.”

— Neil Gaiman

“You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller but by making yourself bigger.”

— John C. Maxwell

“Every cloud has a silver lining.” 

— John Milson

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

— English Proverb

“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on.”

— Robert Frost 

“To be successful you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can’t just accept the ones you like.”

— Mike Gafka

“You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-range failures.”

— Charles C. Noble

“In every difficult situation is potential value. Believe this, then begin looking for it.”

— Norman Vincent Peale

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

— Proverb

“Keep walking through the storm. Your rainbow is waiting on the other side."

— Heather Stillufsen

“Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.”

— Alice Morse Earle

“Still I rise.”

— Maya Angelou

“The only real failure in life is one not learned from.”

— Anthony J. D’Angelo 

“Through every dark night, there's a bright day after that.”

— Tupac Shakur 

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”

— Frederick Douglass

“There are always new, grander challenges to confront, and a true winner will embrace each one.”

— Mia Hamm

“You're far too smart to be the only thing standing in your way.”

— Unknown

“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.”

— H. G. Wells

“You can’t calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.”

— Timber Hawkeye

“The blizzard doesn’t last forever; it just seems so.”

— Ray Bradbury

“The best way out is through.”

— Robert Frost

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