Tough Times Quotes, Sourced and Sorted by What You’re Facing

Tough times quotes are short lines about getting through a hard stretch, whether that’s a loss, a layoff or a year that keeps going wrong. The line most tied to the phrase is “Tough times never last, but tough people do,” the title of a 1983 book by the American minister Robert H. Schuller.

Every quote below has a source. Several popular lines on this subject carry the name of someone who never said them, and those are listed near the end.

Quotes for when it feels like it won’t end

“Tough times never last, but tough people do.” — Robert H. Schuller, title of his 1983 book. Schuller wrote it during the early-1980s recession, after holding a seminar for unemployed workers in Flint, Michigan, in 1982.

“And this, too, shall pass away.” — Abraham Lincoln, address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, September 30, 1859. Lincoln tells the story of an Eastern king who asked his wise men for one sentence that would be true in every situation, and this was their answer. He called it chastening in the hour of pride and consoling in the depths of affliction.

“It is always darkest just before the Day dawneth.” — Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, 1650. It is the earliest known printed version of “the darkest hour is just before the dawn.”

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” — Psalm 30:5, King James Version.

“…within me there lay an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus, “Return to Tipasa,” in Ellen Conroy Kennedy’s translation. The sentence opens with a phrase about the depths of winter, and that opening circulates in several different wordings. If you print it, the part above is the safe version.

Quotes about loss and grief

“Grief is the price we pay for love.” — Queen Elizabeth II, in a message read at a memorial service at St Thomas Church in New York in September 2001, after the 9/11 attacks. The idea comes from the British psychiatrist Colin Murray Parkes, who described grief as the cost of love in his 1972 book Bereavement.

“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” — Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, written in the late 1300s. It is the line the English mystic is known for.

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” — Helen Keller, Optimism, 1903. She wrote the essay while she was a student at Radcliffe College.

Quotes for the long haul

“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” — Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, 1929. The passage goes on to say that the world kills the people it cannot break, so it is bleaker in context than on a poster.

“What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, 1888, “Maxims and Arrows,” no. 8. Translations vary, and “what doesn’t kill me” is a common rendering. Nietzsche introduces it as a lesson “out of life’s school of war.”

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” — Seneca, Letter 13 to Lucilius, in Richard Gummere’s translation. The full sentence begins, “There are more things, Lucilius, likely to frighten us than there are to crush us.”

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” — Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl was a psychiatrist who survived Auschwitz and other Nazi camps, and the book draws on that experience.

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” — Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter, 2008. A shorter version, “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it,” also circulates. The wording above is the one in her book.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” — the version usually quoted from Martin Luther King Jr. The idea comes from his sermon “Shattered Dreams,” published in Strength to Love (1963). In his draft of that sermon, he describes learning “to accept the finite disappointment and yet cling to the infinite hope.”

Short tough times quotes for a card or caption

These are unattributed and safe to use without a credit.

“One hard day is not a hard life.”

“You only have to get through today.”

“Slow is still moving.”

“Rest counts as part of the work.”

“Hard seasons end. This one will too.”

For a student dealing with exams or a bad grade, our perseverance quotes for students are pitched at that age. For younger kids, the “just keep swimming” quote from Finding Nemo does the same job.

Popular tough times quotes with the wrong name

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” It is widely credited to Winston Churchill. The International Churchill Society has found no record of him saying it, and the earliest example Quote Investigator located is from a religious magazine in 1943, with no Churchill connection.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” It is usually credited to Joseph P. Kennedy, father of President John F. Kennedy, or to the football coach Knute Rockne. Neither credit is documented. The earliest printed uses found come from football coaches in the 1950s.

“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” It is credited to C.S. Lewis, but the C.S. Lewis Foundation lists it among quotes he did not write. It comes from the 2010 film The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” It is usually credited to Kahlil Gibran. An earlier version appears in Discourses on the Beatitudes, an 1860 book of sermons by the American minister Edwin Hubbell Chapin.

Before printing any of these with a name attached, check Quote Investigator or Wikiquote. Our guide to citing a quote from a person covers what to do when the original source can’t be found.

FAQ

Who said “tough times never last, but tough people do”?

Robert H. Schuller, an American minister and author. It is the title of his 1983 book.

Where does “this too shall pass” come from?

It is an old saying, usually told as a story about an Eastern king who wanted one sentence that would always be true. Abraham Lincoln told the story in an 1859 speech in Milwaukee, and his wording was “And this, too, shall pass away.”

Did Churchill say “if you’re going through hell, keep going”?

There is no record of it. The International Churchill Society lists it among quotes falsely attributed to him.

What is a good short quote for someone having a hard time?

“And this, too, shall pass away” is short, sourced to Lincoln’s 1859 speech, and fits in a card. “One hard day is not a hard life” works if you want something without a name attached.

Should I send a quote to someone who is grieving?

A short line followed by a sentence of your own reads better than a long quote on its own. “Grief is the price we pay for love” is short enough to use that way.