Nothing in this world is more inspiring than a soul up against crippling circumstances who carries it off with courage and faith and undefeated character-nothing! See Light From Many Lamps, edited by L. E. Watson, article by H. E. Fosdick, pp. 93-94 re: a serious cripple who succeeded.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the profound inspiration derived from individuals who face severe challenges with courage and an unwavering spirit.
Harry Emerson Fosdick highlights the remarkable strength of character displayed by individuals who, despite facing immense adversity, persist with courage and faith. This resilience serves as a powerful source of inspiration, reminding us that true strength is not the absence of struggle but the ability to confront and overcome it with dignity and determination.
In practice
In a motivational speech about resilience in athletes who overcome injuries.
Nothing else matters much...not wealth, nor learning, nor even health...without this gift: the spiritual capacity to keep zest in living. This is the creed of creeds, the final deposit and distillation of all important faiths: that you should be able to believe in life.
No one can get inner peace by pouncing on it, by vigorously willing to have it ... Peace is a consciousness of springs too deep for earthly droughts to dry up. Peace is the gift not of volitional struggle but of spiritual hospitality.
I renounce war for its consequences, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatred it arouses, for the dictatorships it puts in place of democracy, for the starvation that stalks after it. I renounce war, and never again, directly or indirectly, will I sanction or support another.
He who cannot rest, cannot work; he who cannot let go, cannot hold on; he who cannot find footing, cannot go forward.
No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.
Money is a miraculous thing. It is your personal energy reduced to a portable form and endowed with power you yourself do not possess. It can go where you cannot go; speak languages you cannot speak; lift burdens you cannot touch with your fingers; save lives with which you cannot deal directly.
If you are hurt, whether in mind or body, don't nurse your bruises. Get up, and light-heartedly, courageously, good-temperedly, get ready for the next encounter.
Fear is never a reason for quitting; it is only an excuse.
We've all lived through something horrific, but the strength and beauty and knowledge that we're going to win eventually is what keeps me going.
The hens they all cackle, the roosters all beg,_x000D_ _x000D_ But I will not hatch, I will not hatch. _x000D_ _x000D_ For I hear all the talk of pollution and war _x000D_ _x000D_ As the people all shout and the airplane roar, _x000D_ _x000D_ So I'm staying in here where it's safe and it's warm, _x000D_ _x000D_ And I WILL NOT HATCH!
I like to think of Everest as a great mountaineering challenge, and when you've got people just streaming up the mountain - well, many of them are just climbing it to get their name in the paper, really.
No sane man is unafraid in battle, but discipline produces in him a form of vicarious courage.
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