Ali ibn Abi Talib Quotes

For all your days be prepared, and meet them ever alike. When you are the anvil, bear - when you are the hammer, strike.

Let no one think that flexibility and a predisposition to compromise is a sign of weakness or a sell-out.

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.

We must never bend too much.

Be soft, even if you stand to get squashed.

The bow kept taut will quickly break, kept loosely strung, it will serve you when you need it.

Parents walk a fine line between discipline and grace - values have to hold even when circumstances change or call for compromise or compassion. It's the ultimate challenge to be both firm and fluid, soft and strong, yielding yet rock solid.

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.

I am tough but I have a soft side.

I bend but do not break.

You have to train hard and be strong while staying flexible and limber, so I'm trying to find that balance.

People, they don't know how to bend; they just break.

Resilience is distinct from mere survival, and more than mere endurance. Resilience is often endurance with direction.

You can bend, but never break. Stay Unbreakable!

Resilience can go an awful long way.

I want to be like water. I want to slip through fingers, but hold up a ship.

In adversity be spirited and firm, and with equal prudence lessen your sail when filled with a too fortunate gale of prosperity.

So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes they are behind; Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily; Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weakness; Sometimes one is up and sometimes down. Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and complacency.

Weakness is a great thing, and strength is nothing. When a man is just born, he is weak and flexible. When he dies, he is hard and insensitive. When a tree is growing, it's tender and pliant. But when it's dry and hard, it dies. Hardness and strength are death's companions. Pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win.

That which yields is not always weak.

Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.

You have to be resilient.

You can't take yourself too seriously.

If only life could be a little more tender and art a little more robust.