Richard Paul Evans Quotes

When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.

Despair lames most people, but it wakes others fully up.

How would I behave in a situation that caused me to summon the essence of my character? The tragedy inspired me to test myself. I wanted to reveal to myself who I was: the kind of person who died, or the kind of person who overcame circumstances to help himself and others

What I learned for myself... is that no matter what the circumstances, people survive.

Having a dream is what keeps you alive. Overcoming the challenges makes life worth living.

But desperate people find courage.

The ability to find meaning in the most difficult times, I think, is one of the most important skills of life.

My main inspirations are the people around me, heartbreaks, frustration and everything that makes you feel stronger than you should.

Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances may be, whatever misfortune you may have suffered, the music of your life has not gone. It's inside you - if you listen to it, you can play it.

The way you get through tragedy is to look at the good things in life.

Sometimes it's the people you can't help who inspire you the most.

The difference between the successful and the troubled is not error-free living; it is that by discovering and implementing a life calling, the successful stand on their pile of trash while the troubled sit under theirs.

I guess that one of the most important things I've learned is that nothing is ever completely bad. Even cancer. It has made me a better person. It has given me courage and a sense of purpose I never had before. But you don't have to do like I did...wait until you lose a leg or get some awful disease, before you take the time to find out what kind of stuff you're really made of. You can start now. Anybody can.

When you give up on life, never give up on yourself, because there is so much for you to keep on giving!

Every day is amazing, even when it's awful, because everything is for a reason. I know that this horrible thing that's happening today is going to bring something so amazing.

Find the meaning behind whatever it is you're going through because everybody's got something.

The essential thing in life is not so much conquering as fighting well.

In the darkest place, shed the brightest light.

There is a hidden blessing in the most traumatic things we go through in our lives. My brain always goes to, 'Where is the hidden blessing? What is my gift?'

Keys to Finding Hope: 1. Hope depends upon taking care that we have at least two alternatives, in every situation we find ourselves, and with every task confronting us. 2. In any situation, no matter how much we may feel we are at the mercy of vast forces out there, that are totally beyond our control, we can always find something that is within our control, however small, and work on that. 3. Nothing that happens to us is just senseless and meaningless. In the context of our total life, it will eventually turn out to have meaning.

It's amazing when tragedy strikes, how strong you find that you are, and I'd seen other people go through horrible things. And I just thought, "Wow, I would be a complete mess," and then suddenly when it happens, you realize you had more strength than you knew and it helps you to get through.

Something very beautiful happens to people when their world's fallen apart: a humility, a nobility, a higher intelligence emerges at just the point when our knees hit the floor.

The trials and pressures of life--and how we face them--often define us. Confronted by adversity, many people give up while others rise up. How do those who succeed do it? They persevere. They find the benefit to them personally that comes from any trial. And they recognize that the best thing about adversity is coming out on the other side of it. There is a sweetness to overcoming your troubles and finding something good in the process, however small it may be. Giving up when adversity threatens can make a person bitter. Persevering through adversity makes one better.

We salvage what we can, what truly matters to us, even at the gates of despair.