Crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.

The person who runs away exposes himself to that very danger more than a person who sits quietly.

Examine the life of the best and most productive men and nations, and ask yourselves whether a tree which is to grow proudly skywards can dispense with bad weather and storms. Whether misfortune and opposition, or every kind of hatred, jealousy, stubbornness, distrust, severity, greed, and violence do not belong to the favourable conditions without which a great growth even of virtue is hardly possible?

What I know for sure is that there is no strength without challenge, adversity, resistance, and often pain.

There shall be no Alps.

Even the hard times are part of your life story. If you acknowledge them and move past them, they eventually add up to the experience that makes you wise.