QuoteProject
The only use of an obstacle is to be overcome. All that an obstacle does with brave men is, not to frighten them, but to challenge them.
Woodrow Wilson
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Obstacles serve as challenges to be faced rather than fears to be avoided.

This quote emphasizes the idea that obstacles are not merely hindrances, but opportunities for growth and bravery. For those with courage, challenges are not intimidating; instead, they present a chance to prove one's mettle and overcome adversity.

Themes

ObstacleOvercomeBraveryChallengeCourage

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech to inspire students to persevere through challenges.

More from Woodrow Wilson

Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.
Woodrow WilsonRead
Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down. Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused.
Woodrow WilsonRead
The history of liberty is the history of limitations on the power of government, not the increase of it. When we resist, therefore, the concentration of power, we are resisting the processes of death, because concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties.
Woodrow WilsonRead
We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers.
Woodrow WilsonRead
The way to stop financial joyriding is to arrest the chauffeur, not the automobile.
Woodrow WilsonRead
Once lead this people into war, and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber of our national life, infecting Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street.
Woodrow WilsonRead

Similar quotes

Get out and vote. If you can't vote, then register other people to vote. Get people to the polls; make sure that people who need to vote can vote.
Emma GonzalezRead
Listeners, that brings us to the end of another Potterwatch. We don’t know when it will be possible to broadcast again, but you can be sure we shall be back. Keep twiddling those dials: the next password will be β€˜Mad-Eye.’ Keep each other safe. Keep faith. Good night.
J. K. RowlingRead
As I recovered at Walter Reed, I worried about the soldiers who pulled me out of my helicopter that Friday afternoon. Would they make it back okay? And what about all the other soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who were also putting their lives on the line every day?
Tammy DuckworthRead
What hurts me most is poverty, and that's what led me to become a rebel.
Hugo ChavezRead
In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights.
Desmond TutuRead
Women, we might as well be dogs baying the moon as petitioners without the right to vote!
Susan B. AnthonyRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.