Marian Keyes Quotes

Most people are remarkably resilient. Even those who have been through war or great loss often find reservoirs of strength. But the legacy of trauma is a heavy burden to bear.

I don't consider myself a survivor; that's someone who has gone through something terrible.

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.

You're not going to live your life unscathed.

Life's fairly excruciating. Painful things happen. Every now and then, you drag yourself out of the stream and stand on the bank gasping for air. I think that's how I work.

If you're actually talking to someone who's been through a disastrous number of years, that only means one thing: They survived it.

I've been through hell not totally unscathed, but I came out not too bad.

The only thing I know how to do is survive.

I've been through a lot; that I have.

When stuff happens to you, it just makes you tougher, man.

As the most generous vine, if it is not pruned, runs out into many superfluous stems, and grows at last weak and fruitless; so dote the best man, if he be not cut short of his desires and pruned with afflictions. If it be painful to bleed, it is worse to wither. Let me be pruned, that I may grow, rather than be cut up to burn.

There are those who suffer and grow strong; there are those who suffer and grow weak. This mystery of pain is still for me the saddest of earth's disabilities.

People say, That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But they are wrong. What doesn't kill you doesn't kill you. That's all you get. Sometimes, you just have to hope that's enough.

But...as bad as it was, I learned something about myself. That I could go through something like that and survive. I mean, I know it could have been worse--a lot worse-- but for me, it was all I could have handled at the time. And I learned from it.

You can't go through the kinds of things I've gone through, as much as I have, without re-evaluating yourself and making adjustments. And you can't endure these horrendous circumstances without developing a certain level of strength and wisdom.

It is only the strong who are strengthened by suffering; the weak are made weaker.

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.

We can take suffering to be an opportunity to learn and to grow. But if we are honest, we should remember that this is making the best of a bad job, and that minimising suffering takes priority over optimising its outcome.

I think I got a lot of life skills; I got a lot of wisdom; I've seen a lot of bad things happen to a lot of good people.

Life asks not merely what you can do; it asks how much can you endure and not be spoiled.

Pain is the doorway to wisdom and to truth.

It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars.

Adversities such as being homeless and going to prison has made many people stronger.

Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.