Ruby Dee Quotes

Do something everyday for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.

You don't have to drink or swear or hit people in the face when they're not looking, but you do have to be tough to win.

Resistance, whether to one's appetites or to the ways of the world, is a chief factor in the shaping of character.

...most men and women will yield to the strong currents sucking them into the seas of ruin. Only the strongest in mind and spirit will swim against that current.

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

I can take it. The tougher it gets, the cooler I get.

We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.

I just think that there are those people that their resolve is strengthened by what it is that's keeping them down, and there are some people that will buckle under it. You never know which one is which until you get into the eighth or ninth round of the fight.

Our ability to handle life's challenges is a measure of our strength of character.

There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself.

Strength of will is the test of a young man's possibilities. Can he will strong enough and hold whatever he undertakes with an iron grip?

People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.

I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.

It was just you had to be strong, and if you weren't strong you're a victim and you're not going to make it. That was the reality when I was growing up.

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.

Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.

Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition - such as lifting weights - we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.

It is a great thing to have a big brain, a fertile imagination, grand ideals, but the man with these, bereft of a good backbone, is sure to serve no useful end.

Strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them

Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back upon himself.

Never let your face show how hard they are taking your ass.

I've learned a lot about life besides how to take a punch. And I've taken quite a few in and out of the ring.

I have been knocked down so many times, as a player and as a person, and I have had the strength, I suppose that has come from my parents, to be able to pick myself each and every single time and go out there in the face of adversity and try my best and perform. I didn't read it up in a book. It's deep down and it's part of my family trait.

Temptations are as thick as the leaves of the forest, and no one can be out of the reach of temptation unless he is dead. The great thing is to make people intelligent enough and strong enough, not to keep away from temptation, but to resist it.

My own father had always said the measure of a man wasn't how many times or how hard he got knocked down, but how fast he got back up. I made a pledge to myself that I would get up and emerge from this debacle better for having gone through it. I would live up to the expectation I had for myself. I would be the kind of man I wanted to be.