“He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
The Book of Job, 1611 · Job 23:10, King James Version
Chapter 7
On Endurance
“Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear.”
Marcus Aurelius, c. 170 AD · Roman emperor, writing to himself on campaign
“Life, Lucilius, is really a battle.”
Seneca, c. 64 AD · Roman Stoic philosopher, in a letter on facing hardships
“The superior man may indeed have to endure want, but the mean man, when he is in want, gives way to unbridled license.”
Confucius, c. 479 BC · answering his student Tsze-lu when their provisions ran out
“The soul which is not moved, the soul that with a strong and constant calm takes sorrow and takes joy indifferently, lives in the life undying.”
The Bhagavad Gita, c. 200 BC · chapter 2, verse 15, spoken by Krishna to Arjuna
“Thou must be like a promontory of the sea, against which though the waves beat continually, yet it both itself stands, and about it are those swelling waves stilled and quieted.”
Marcus Aurelius, c. 170 AD · Roman emperor, writing to himself on campaign
“You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.”
Frederick Douglass, 1845 · born enslaved in Maryland, writing seven years after his escape
“I resolved that out of the darkness of this hour a brighter dawn should rise for them. My master had power and law on his side; I had a determined will. There is might in each.”
Harriet Jacobs, 1861 · born enslaved in North Carolina, writing under the name Linda Brent
“They say that time assuages. Time never did assuage. An actual suffering strengthens, as sinews do, with age.”
Emily Dickinson, 1896 · American poet, who published almost nothing in her lifetime
“Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.”
Rabindranath Tagore, 1912 · Bengali poet, in the collection that won him the Nobel Prize
Of 698 children born into hardship on Kauai and followed for thirty years, a third of the highest-risk grew into competent, caring adults. Each had at least one steady adult who believed in them.
Emmy Werner, 1993 · developmental psychologist, Kauai Longitudinal Study
Resilience is not rare and it is not heroic. It comes from ordinary things working normally: a caring adult, a functioning brain, a community that holds. Where those are present, most children come through.
Ann Masten, 2001 · developmental psychologist, University of Minnesota
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