Jon Kabat-Zinn Quotes

To live is to wrestle with despair, yet never allow despair to have the last word.

Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that's what makes you strong.

I don't think I have thick skin, but I heal fast. It's easy to break through, but I heal fast.

We deem those happy who from the experience of life have learnt to bear its ills without being overcome by them.

I've always been proud of the fact that I can hold it together and I rarely break. It's a point of pride for me.

Strength doesn't mean an absence of pain.

Being knee-deep in sadness or suffering and refusing to look down - to me, that represents something more powerful than someone who's never gone through difficulty.

My natural reaction is to smile through things.

And yet, I found I could survive. I was alert, I felt the pain - the aching loss that radiated out from my chest, sending wracking waves of hurt through my limbs and head - but it was manageable. I could live through it. I didn't feel like the pain had weakened over time, rather that I'd grown strong enough to bear it.

I'm not sure why I've decided to do this. I'm not any stronger than I was, and nothing else has changed. But all the same, this time I'm not going to run away. It's okay to feel weak sometimes. It's okay to be afraid. The important thing is that we face our fears. That's what makes us strong."-Yuki

There were different kinds of strength. I knew that now. It didn't always come from a knife or a willingness to fight. Sometimes it came from endurance, where the well ran deep and quiet. Sometimes it came from compassion and forgiveness.

If I wasn't hard, I wouldn't be alive. If I couldn't ever be gentle, I wouldn't deserve to be alive.

The human spirit is more powerful than any drug - and that is what needs to be nourished: with work, play, friendship, family. These are the things that matter.

I think I was as mentally tough as I've ever been. I felt like I handled the situation both on and off the court extremely well. I felt like I needed to.

You, sleeping on your bed of nails. Weeping an ocean beyond the pale. Strange, sorrow is your greatest skill. You're suffering from overkill... Choose whether to laugh or to cry. Menace and promise mingle in your eye. Wait, it's only a matter of time. You know everything will be fine... Rain falls down and the seas run high. When you're by my side we can rise above it. Let me dry all the tears inside. On your way you cannot hide from the howling wind and the roaring tide. You might get hurt but your fears will subside when you at last escape from the tears inside.

I can't drown my demons. They know how to swim.

While they flail about, you will remain calm in the knowledge that you possess strength from within.

At first I was almost about to despair, I thought I never could bear it — but I did I bear it. The question remains: how?

To face despair and not give in to it, that's courage.

So, using his pride like a shield against despair, dejection, and-most important— self-pity, Raoden raised his head to stare damnation in the eyes.

All we are asked to bear we can bear. That is a law of the spiritual life. The only hindrance to the working of this law, as of all benign laws, is fear.

Without that innate sense of human worth, a man cannot long endure adversity, nor can he long enjoy prosperity.

But hope is no less realistic than despair. It is still our choice whether to live in light or lie down in darkness.

The pain barrier was not a barrier for her; she could go beyond it.

My father taught me that one of the most important abilities in life is to be able to take the pain and persevere, and for years this lesson had served me well.