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“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
Resilience is our ability to endure adversity and recover from it.
Resilient people find coping skills, maintain positive relationships, and tap into their support system to emerge stronger from setbacks.
Growing resilience is a vital part of leadership and well-being.
If you’re a leader, finding a resilience quote that drives you to take the right action in the face of a crisis is a quick and efficient shortcut. You may use the resilient quote as a secret mantra to inspire yourself.
These quotes about resilience will resonate with you, and empower you in turbulent times.
23 Resilience Quotes For Work And The Best Business Leaders
Here are 23 business leadership quotes of resilience to inspire you through crises:
1. As much as talent counts, effort counts twice. — Angela Duckworth, a MacArthur Genius Award-winning psychologist, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.
2. Resilience or hardiness is the ability to adapt to new circumstances when life presents the unpredictable. — Salvatore R. Maddi, author of Hardiness: Turning Stressful Circumstances into Resilient Growth
3. Only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly. — Robert F. Kennedy
4. Resiliency is the ability to spring back from and successfully adapt to adversity. — Nan Henderson, The Resiliency Quiz
5. When we learn how to become resilient, we learn how to embrace the beautifully broad spectrum of the human experience. — Jaeda Dewalt
Video of Resilience Quotes
Here is a short video of resilience quotes to motivate you to recoil and bounce back stronger after leadership failures:
6. Resilience is based on compassion for ourselves as well as compassion for others. — Sharon Salzberg, author of several books including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness
7. Resilience is overcoming adversity, whilst also potentially changing, or even dramatically transforming, (aspects of) that adversity. — Angie Hart
8. Resilience is the strength and speed of our response to adversity — and we can build it. It isn’t about having a backbone. It’s about strengthening the muscles around our backbone. — Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, and co-author of Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy
9. The human capacity for burden is like bamboo – far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance. ― Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper
10. Resilience isn’t a single skill. It’s a variety of skills and coping mechanisms. To bounce back from bumps in the road as well as failures, you should focus on emphasizing the positive. — Jean Chatzky, an award-winning financial journalist, author, and motivational speaker.
11. Sometimes carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement. ― Albert Camus, French philosopher, author, and journalist. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism.
12. “Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good.” – Elizabeth Edwards
13. Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. ― J.K. Rowling, the author of the seven Harry Potter books, recently wrote The Ickabog.
14. To be rendered powerless does not destroy your humanity. Your resilience is your humanity. The only people who lose their humanity are those who believe they have the right to render another human being powerless. They are the weak. To yield and not break, that is incredible strength. — Hannah Gadsby
15. She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails. ― Elizabeth Edwards
16. That which does not kill us makes us stronger. — The most famous quote on resilience by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
17. When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. — Viktor Frankl (1905-1997), psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, and author of the evergreen classic on resilience: Man’s Search for Meaning
18. But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer. — Viktor Frankl
19. It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop. ― Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf
20. May I have the serenity to accept things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. — The Serenity Prayer by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr
21. It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way, even by death, and we fly back to the first principles of hope and enjoyment. ― Bram Stoker, Dracula
22. I spent my young adult years postponing many of the small things that I knew would make me happy… I was fortunate enough to realize that I would never have the time unless I made the time. And then the rest of my life began. ― Christopher Peterson, Positive Psychologist
23. The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed. ― Ernest Hemingway
Resilience And Leadership
Resilience is the foundation of leadership.
In fact, resilience and leadership are inextricably linked. While a leader might be vulnerable, they are inefficient leaders if they are not resilient.
The greatest leaders have a remarkable capacity to endure, overcome obstacles, and keep moving forward even in the face of adversity.
Resilience allows a leader to navigate rapidly evolving situations. Especially in the volatile business climate today, leaders need to be resilient by example if they are to handle upheavals successfully.
“I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dreams are something you will not achieve within your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility even in death.” ― Monty Oum
Here are some leadership resilience quotes:
- “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell
- “The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example.” – John Wooden
- “Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.” – Simon Sinek
- “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” – Arnold H. Glasow
- “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.” – Douglas MacArthur
Mindfulness And Resilience
Mindfulness is the key to resilience in the face of adversity.
Mindfulness can help us build resilience by allowing us to cultivate a greater awareness of our thoughts, emotions, and sensations.
When we learn to mindfully observe our experiences without judging them, we can develop a more flexible and adaptive response to stress, pain, and adversity, and bounce back from challenges more effectively.
Here are some mindfulness resilience quotes:
- “Through mindfulness, we develop a deep sense of inner peace and resilience, allowing us to navigate life’s challenges with greater ease and grace.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
- “Mindfulness is a way to cultivate resilience, flexibility, and a sense of perspective.” – Sharon Salzberg
- “By becoming more mindful, we can develop greater resilience and flexibility in the face of stress, pain, and adversity.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
- “Mindfulness is the key to resilience in the face of adversity. By being mindful, we can learn to respond to stress in a more adaptive and healthy way.” – Elisha Goldstein
- “Mindfulness is not only a key to resilience, but it also provides a valuable perspective on the nature of our experience and a powerful tool for cultivating compassion, empathy, and understanding.” – Daniel Goleman
10 Ways To Build Resilience by The American Psychological Association
Resilience is not a fixed trait. It is dynamic, and we can develop and build it in ourselves.
The American Psychological Association (APA) suggests the following 10 ways to build resilience:
- to maintain good relationships with close family members, friends, and others
- to avoid seeing crises or stressful events as unbearable problems
- to accept circumstances that cannot be changed
- to develop realistic goals and move toward them
- to take decisive actions in adverse situations
- to look for opportunities of self-discovery after a struggle with loss
- to develop self-confidence
- to keep a long-term perspective and consider the stressful event in a broader context
- to maintain a hopeful outlook, expecting good things, and visualizing what is wished
- to take care of one’s mind and body, exercising regularly, paying attention to one’s own needs and feelings
Final Words
Resilience is bouncing back from adversity, often to a state stronger and better than before.
Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, writes in the book she co-authored with Adam Grant, Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, And Finding Joy:
We all encounter hardships. Some we see coming; others take us by surprise. It can be as tragic as the sudden death of a child, as heartbreaking as a relationship that unravels, or as disappointing as a dream that goes unfulfilled. The question is: When these things happen, what do we do next?
— Sheryl Sandberg
Finally, remember grief is our natural response to loss. It is the emotional pain we feel when something or someone we deeply care for is taken away. Grief could be due to personal loss or business loss.
In such times, you can build a belief of resilience, and hope that things will be back to normal even after the worst of events.
Grief and resilience live together. — Michelle Obama
There are several proven ways to cultivate and build resilience in people. But resilience quotes when used as oft-repeated mantras can have a quick and powerful positive effect on your mindset.
So, stand up back and keep going through these hardships. Make one of these quotes your mantra to chant during the hard times to reinforce your spirits. You are a resilient one, in body and mind, and spirit.
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Author Bio: Created and reviewed by Sandip Roy—a medical doctor, psychology writer, and happiness researcher. Founder and Chief Editor of The Happiness Blog. Writes on mental health, happiness, positive psychology, mindfulness, and philosophy (especially Stoicism).
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