Nadine Gordimer Quotes

The most audacious thing I could possibly state in this day and age is that life is worth living. It's worth being bashed against. It's worth getting scarred by. It's worth pouring yourself over every one of its coals.

Life has never been easy. Nor is it meant to be. It is a matter of being joyous in the face of sorrow.

I should at least mention that I am also discovering a degree of strength and of basic ability for humans to remain human in the direst of circumstances – which I also haven’t seen before. I think the word is dignity. I wish you could meet these people. Maybe, hopefully, someday you will.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.

My life is a beautiful struggle.

This is a beautiful life we lead in spite of whatever things come against us or whatever team loses or wins.

The state of Alabama can take my freedom, the state of Alabama can take my future, but the state of Alabama cannot take my joy.

Reflecting on his years in prison, Nelson Mandela wrote that there were dark moments that tested his faith in humanity, but he refused to give up.

"No," he says, taking us both in. "No, no, no. You've come farther than most people on this planet will in their lifetimes. You've overcome obstacles and dangers and things that should've killed you. You've outrun an army and a madman and deadly illness and seen things most people will never see. How do you think you could have possibly come this far if you didn't have hope?"

I AM VERY MOVED BY SURVIVORS. BY PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO OVERCOME A HANDICAP, A SITUATION, OR ANYTHING. VISITING THE HEARTS AND SOULS OF THOSE PEOPLE TEACHES ME A LOT ABOUT HUMANS AND HUMANITY.

I can't go on. I'll go on.

In difficult times, we're not supposed to quit believing; we're not supposed to quit growing.

I think that hope is the act of continuing in the face of the truth.

When I said the city would be stronger, I didn't know that. I just hoped it. There are parts of you that say, 'Maybe we're not going to get through this.' You don't listen to them.

I've always believed in survival.

There's so many things that life is, and no matter how many breakthroughs, trials will exist and we're going to get through it. Just be strong.

While we may lose heart, we never have to lose hope.

Tough times never last, but tough people do.

There are so many difficult things we're living through in the world today, so many horrible events, but we cannot let them stop us. No matter what happens, I feel you must move forward with optimism and not get totally sideswiped.

I think you need to go through some stuff to really appreciate life and understand what it means to persevere, overcome and have faith. I think those tough times make you a stronger person.

The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.

Those who kept their sanity and humanity intact in the face of awful adversity. Heroes named and unnamed, some known only to God.

Be patient, my soul: thou hath suffered worse than this.

Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.