You know from past experiences that whenever you have been driven to the wall, or thought you were, you have extricated yourself in a way which you never would have dreamed possible had you not been put to the test. The trouble is that in your everyday life you don't go deep enough to tap the divine mind within you.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that challenges can lead to personal growth and discovering inner strength.
Orison Swett Marden's quote speaks to the transformative power of adversity. It suggests that challenges push us to discover abilities and solutions we might not have imagined in times of ease. By reflecting on past difficulties, we understand that we have the potential to overcome obstacles, yet in our daily lives, we often fail to delve deep into our own capabilities and creativity, restricting our growth.
In practice
In a motivational speech to inspire students facing exams.
Opportunity is latent in the very foundation of human society. Opportunity is everywhere about us. But the preparation to seize upon the opportunity, and to make the most of it, is to be made by every one for himself ... he will be self-made or never made.
We lift ourselves by our thought, we climb upon our vision of ourselves. If you want to enlarge your life, you must first enlarge your thought of it and of yourself. Hold the ideal of yourself as you long to be, always, everywhere - your ideal of what you long to attain - the ideal of health, efficiency, success.
You cannot measure a man by his failures. You must know what use he makes of them. What did they mean to him. What did he get out of them.
Something greater than wealth, grander even than fame β that manhood, character, stand for success, and that nothing else really does.
Many a man has finally succeeded only because he has failed after repeated efforts. If he had never met defeat he would never have known any great victory.
If our dreams are sincere desires to achieve, not mere pipe-dreams, there is something deep within ourselves which comes out to meet them and helps to make them realities.
The odds were against me when I arrived at Central Arkansas. I was barely 6-foot-2 and didn't have a scholarship. But I always felt I could make it to the NBA; it was as if I had foreseen my future, and I knew I would make it.
To win the big stakes in this changed world, you must catch the spirit of the great pioneers of the past, whose dreams have given to civilization all that it has of value, the spirit that serves as the life-blood of our own country β your opportunity and mine, to develop and market our talents.
I mean if you stay engaged, and are constantly fighting, you don't have time to regenerate. So sometimes you have to take time to renew your strength and energy, so that you can come back and fight again in a constructive way.
I don't apologize for anything. When I make a mistake, I take the blame and go on from there. I just despise to lose, and that has taken a man of mediocre ability and made a pretty good coach out of him.
All achievement, no matter what may be its nature, or its purpose, must begin with an intense, burning desire for something definite.
Some of my greatest pleasures have come from finding ways to overcome obstacles.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.