S. J. Perelman Quotes

I haven't always acted or reacted in a way that made me proud, but I didn't make that same mistake twice, and I think that's what I love about adversity is that it always reminds me of what's really valuable in life.

He who knows no hardships will know no hardihood. He who faces no calamity will need no courage. Mysterious though it is, the characteristics in human nature which we love best grow in a soil with a strong mixture of troubles.

Mental toughness is Spartanism, with all its qualities of self-denial, sacrifice, dedication, fearlessness, and love.

Competition is a tough weed, not a delicate flower.

The only difference between black coal and a precious diamond is the amount of pressure it endured.

Life often seems like a long shipwreck of which the debris are friendship, glory, and love. - The shores of existence are strewn with them.

I've always been drawn to stories and characters facing some sort of struggle against forces beyond our control, be it love, loss, betrayal.

I think that's okay and that is part of growing up and that is good, to learn that the world isn't always your oyster or isn't everybody's oyster.

Hope itself is like a star- not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity.

Secret of life is to go through something harrowing that doesnt kill you...and to love one woman for the rest of your life.

Storms make oaks take deeper root.

To die, and thus avoid poverty or love, or anything painful, is not the part of a brave man, but rather of a coward; for it is cowardice to avoid trouble, and the suicide does not undergo death because it is honorable, but in order to avoid evil.

A tree weeps when cut down, a dog howls when beaten, but a man matures when offended.

Only through suffering do we learn

I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

If troubles were put up to market, I'd sooner buy old than new. It's something to have seen the worst.

In a world of sorrow, love was an act of will. All you needed were the right ingredients.

In The Tale of Despereaux, there is a lot of darkness, a lot of despair. There's also a lot of light, redemption, hope. There's forgiveness, there's friendship, there's love. But the world in all of its potential craziness is also there.

Sail forth into the sea of life, O gentle, loving, trusting wife, And safe from all adversity Upon the bosom of that sea Thy comings and thy goings be! For gentleness and love and trust Prevail o'er angry wave and gust; And in the wreck of noble lives Something immortal still survives.

We live in a world in which the worst looks as if it is going to happen and the worst often does happen, and yet out of the anguish and waste, love and trust come in new forms.

It's an awful truth that suffering can deepen us, give a greater lustre to our colours, a richer resonance to our words.

Every time there are losses, there are choices to be made. You choose to live your losses as passages to anger, blame, hatred, depression and resentment, or you choose to let these losses be passages to something new, something wider, and deeper.

Where soil is, men grow, Whether to weeds or flowers.

Love becomes greater and nobler in calamity.

You fight dandelions all weekend, and late Monday afternoon there they are, pert as all get out, in full and gorgeous bloom, pretty as can be, thriving as only dandelions can in the face of adversity.