Quotes & Sayings About Hard Knocks

Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves. — D.H. Lawrence

Graduating from the School of Hard Knocks doesn't always get you to Fort Knox. — Edward Harris

The Street Epistemologist is a philosopher and a fighter. She has savvy and street smarts that come from the school of hard knocks. She relentlessly helps others by tearing down falsehoods about whatever enshrined "truths" enslave us. — Peter Boghossian

A lot is gained through experience, but experience teaches some and not others. Effectiveness and excellence, whether or not they were attained by simply having the knack or through the school of hard knocks, is really what you want to reward. — Caterina Fake

By now Ferris had come to the grudging conclusion that his client was "a plumb good sort." Garrulous in the cabin, Roosevelt on the trail was quiet, purposeful, and tough. "He could stand an awful lot of hard knocks, and he was always cheerful." The guide was intrigued by his habit of pulling out a book in flyblown campsites and immersing himself in it, as if he were ensconced in the luxury of the Astor Library. Most of all, perhaps, he was impressed by a casual remark Roosevelt made one night while blowing up a rubber pillow. "His doctors back East had told him that he did not have much longer to live, and that violent exercise would be immediately fatal."64 — Edmund Morris

The colleges and other institutions of learning are going too far, in my opinion. I think 50% of those attending educational institutions, having the professions in view, would be better off with a common school education that would enable them to earn a living, rather than sit around in offices and wait for clients.
W.A. Clark (MT Senator, 1901-1907) — Bill Dedman

I spent half my childhood trying to be like my dad. True for most boys, I think. It turns with adolescence. The last thing I wanted was to be like my dad. It took becoming a man to realize how lucky I'd been. It took a few hard knocks in life to make me realize the only thing my dad had ever wanted or worked for was to give me a chance at being better than him. — Tucker Elliot

Because I believe in my ... proud citizen of this country should be doing. And that is to try and put in as much as he takes out. I guess it's to the hard knocks of life that I attribute this conclusion. — Stompin' Tom Connors

I struggle with confidence, every time. I'm never completely sure I can write another book. Maybe my scope is too grand, my questions too hard, surely readers won't want to follow me here. A novel is like a cathedral, it knocks you down to size when you enter into it. — Barbara Kingsolver

No warrior scolds. Courteous words or else hard knocks are his only language. — C.S. Lewis

There is no royal road to a successful life, as there is no royal road to learning. It has got to be hard knocks, morning, noon, and night, and fixity of purpose. — Charles M. Schwab

Those whom fate has dealt hard knocks remain vulnerable for ever afterwards. — Stefan Zweig

Sometimes, there aren't any good choices. Sometimes, making the right one is hard ... It's funny, but when you think about it, we're all broken. That's what life does. It knocks you down and breaks you and you either get back up again, or you don't. You either do things on your terms, or you don't. You let the bad things win, or you don't."
"You either let it break you, or you don't. — Jennifer Lynn Barnes

am not a well-schooled woman. Instead, I have learned my lessons from experience, mistakes, and the heat of battle. If ever there was a shining alumnus from the school of hard knocks, it is I. My diploma can be found, printed in black and blue, at points of varying interest from head to toe. — Chris Kreski

There are no tough times, hard knocks, or challenges that aren't laden with emeralds, rubies, and diamonds for those who see them through. — Mike Dooley

Comin' from the school of hard knocks,
Some perpetrate ... they drink Clorox.
Attack the black, cause I know they lack exact
The cold facts, and still they try to Xerox. — Chuck D

You learn more from getting your butt kicked than getting it kissed. — Tom Hanks

You survived by seizing every tiny drop of love you could find anywhere, and milking it, relishing it, for all it was worth. And as you grew up, you sought love, anywhere you could find it, whether it was a teacher or a coach or a friend or a friend's parents. You sought those tiny droplets of love, basking in them when you found them. They sustained you. For all these years, you've lived under the illusion that somehow, you made it because you were tough enough to overpower the abuse, the hatred, the hard knocks of life. But really you made it because love is so powerful that tiny little doses of it are enough to overcome the pain of the worst things life can dish out. Toughness was a faulty coping mechanism you devised to get by. But, in reality, it has been your ability to never give up, to keep seeking love, and your resourcefulness to make that love last long enough to sustain you. That is what has gotten you by. — Rachel Reiland

What Caul liked most about Tom was his kindness. Kindness was not valued back in Grimsby, where the older boys were encouraged to torment the younger ones, who would grow up to torment another batch of youngsters in their turn. "Good practice for life," Uncle said. "Hard knocks, that's all the world's about!" But maybe Uncle had never met anyone like Tom, who was kind to other people and seemed to expect nothing more than kindness in return. — Philip Reeve

For all these years, you've lived under the illusion that, somehow, you made it because you were tough enough to overpower the abuse, the hatred, the hard knocks of life. But really you made it because love is so powerful that tiny little doses of it are enough to overcome the pain of the worst things life can dish out. Toughness was a faulty coping mechanism you devised to get by. But, in reality, it has been your ability to never give up, to keep seeking love, and your resourcefulness to make that love last long enough to sustain you. That's what has gotten you by — Rachel Reiland

Hard knocks have a place and value, but hard thinking goes farther in less time. — Henry Ford

I try to remember that hard knocks leave dents. — Jennifer Donnelly

When I was at school my jography told me th' earth was shaped like a orange an' I found out before I was ten that th' whole orange doesn't belong to nobody. No one owns more than his bit of a quarter an' there's times it seems there's not enow quarters to go around. But don't you-none o' you- think as you own th' whole orange or you'll find out you're mistaken, an' you won't find it without hard knocks. What children learns from children, is that there's no sense grabbin' at th' whole orange-peel an' all. If you do you'll likely not get even th' pips, an' them's too bitter to eat. — Frances Hodgson Burnett

She'd faced some hard knocks in life - one really hard one five years ago - and had managed to cultivate a protective shell for herself. But like a Godiva truffle, she was only hard in a thin outer layer. Her insides were still as tender as ever. — Becky Wade

Life is hard. It's cruel sometimes. It's merciless and unfair, but we all go through difficult times, one way or another. You've had more than your share of knocks lately, I'll give you that, but it doesn't mean you get to quit. No one gets to quit. You keep fighting, every day, and sooner or later, the grief fades a little. You grow stronger, find joy again, and everything gets easier. You come out of it more equipped to handle the next wave, which will come eventually. There will always be waves. — Julianne MacLean

Suddenly, four or five soldiers with round helmets and guns in hand enter the courtyard. One of them, presumably the commander, knocks hard on the door while shouting, with a strong Yankee accent: 'We are American soldiers ... Are there any Germans here?' His manner is so imperious and sure, you would think he had already won the war. We greet them with open arms. Their confidence is so contagious that we consider the Liberation to be already accomplished. As if the entire German army were obliterated in only one night. — Mary Louise Roberts

He said, 'You have to understand, I'm an academic. I'm not trained in dealing with masses of people. I found out through the school of hard knocks that it is better not to deal with masses of people. It's not that they don't deserve the information but they really react in very strange ways. They get panicky and excited, or over-excited, and it is so easy for academics to forget that. We're trained in math. We're trained in science. We're not trained in the masses.'
He paused.
'The public is extremely wild,' he said, 'uncontrollably wild.'
Then he shrugged his shoulders.
'You have to understand,' he said, 'I'm an academic. — Jon Ronson

These boys need women who can take the heat without meltin' like butter, and sometimes that heat is fiery. They need women who can give back their shit so they don't walk all over 'em and get bored out of their fucking skulls. And they need women who can go soft when the situation demands because they get hard knocks on a regular basis, sometimes literal y, and comin' home to somethin' soft is the only way to cope. — Kristen Ashley

While you're saving your face, you're losing your ass. — Lyndon B. Johnson

Opportunity never arrives, it only walks by. Chance never comes, it only knocks at the door. Never think the success will jump into your palms; you must work for it! — Israelmore Ayivor

I'm imagining the reader, whom I conjure as an aspiring artist much like my own younger, less grizzled self, to whom I hope to impart a little starch and inspiration and prime, a little, with some hard-knocks wisdom and a few tricks of the trade. — Steven Pressfield

Okay, you have to understand I was drunk."

"So?"

"So don't believe anything I said."

"What about now?"

"I don't know. I don't trust myself around you. Talking to you is like drinking tequila. One minute I'm in control, and the next I'm - "

He holds me hard against him, then he claims my lips, brutally, violently, the way I was secretly hoping he would. And I kiss him back with so much force it nearly knocks all air from my lungs. — Elisa Marie Hopkins

Life gives you enough hard knocks so it's unlikely you'll stay that sure of yourself. — Jeanette Winterson

Excuse me, Scopus," Beric said quietly, "I am perfectly ready to fight with this bragadocio, and challenge him to a contest; a few hard knocks will do neither of us any harm, therefore let us go into the school and have it out, It is much better so than to have perpetual quarrelling. — G.A. Henty

I don't believe in the school of hard knocks, although I've had them. All that stuff about whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger is so not true. Do you know what makes you stronger? When people treat you and your art with dignity. — Lana Del Rey

Once when I was givin' th' children a bit of a preach after they'd been fightin' I ses to 'em all, When I was at school my jography told as th' world was shaped like a orange an' I found out before I was ten that th' whole orange doesn't belong to nobody. No one owns more than his bit of a quarter an' there's times it seems like there's not enow quarters to go round. But don't you - none o' you - think as you own th' whole orange or you'll find out you're mistaken, an' you won't find it out without hard knocks. — Frances Hodgson Burnett

What makes it worth it though, is I love drawing. I LOVE IT. I love making comics. I love starting a new page and buying new paper, ink and brushes. I love telling stories! I love the people I work with, I love the people I meet. I love thinking about the syntax and language of comics. I love esoteric discussions about the comic book industry. I love the opportunities I've had in life because of comics. The second I stop loving it I will find something else to do.
Comics are hard work. Comics are relentless. Comics will break your heart. Comics are monetarily unsatisfying. Comics don't offer much in terms of fortune and glory, but comics will give you complete freedom to tell the stories you want to tell, in ways unlike any other medium. Comics will pick you up after it knocks you down. Comics will dust you off and tell you it loves you. And you will look into it's eyes and know it's true, that you love comics back. — Becky Cloonan

The school of hard knocks is an accelerated curriculum. — Menander

Hard-bitten had a double meaning: bitten hard by life, like her, or clamping meanly down on other people. But, as though belying his thoughts, she said, "I hope your days are good."
"If only. My eyes, you know, are like Swiss cheese, the doctor says. I see through the holes. — Edward Hoagland

Both friend and enemy reside within us. One lives by the rule of compassion, the other by the rule of hard knocks. Though potential influence of either extreme is inevitable, our actions bear witness to the one we embrace. — T.F. Hodge

Have patience when it is really worth doing so, no matter what, and notwithstanding how hard impatience knocks at your door, and you will know patience better — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

Statesmanship is developed in the hard knocks of general experience, private and public. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

I never went to college. I went to the school of hard knocks and paid for my education by getting ripped off. It's been a great adventure, and I've outlived my adversaries. — Jim "Dandy" Mangrum

Do not allow to slip away from you freedoms the people who came before you won with such hard knocks. — D.H. Lawrence

Sometimes, the hard knocks of life are blessings in disguise. — James Houston Turner

When I listen to these women, it makes what I thought were my hard knocks feel like little nudges. — Whoopi Goldberg

The fear of God does not come naturally to human beings; it must be learned through Scripture, worship, and the hard knocks of experience. — Max Anders

He knocks once against the side. I don't get it at first, and then I laugh.
Let's establish a code for when you want to go all creeper on me. One knock means you'd like to come in.
"Yes, Evan." I'm laughing so hard, it's starting to hurt. "You can come in. — Rick Yancey

When men were tough and raw, when they lived amid hard knocks and hard laws, when they knew what fighting really was, they had only two kinds of songs. The first was a rejoicing that the weak had conquered the strong, the second a lamentation that the strong had, for once in a way, conquered the weak. — G.K. Chesterton

I really appreciate an actor who has paid their dues and who has learned hard knocks and has been rewarded in the end. I don't understand young actors who get off the turnip truck and land in Hollywood and get a great job. They do not realize how fortunate they are. — Enrico Colantoni

It was a compound of self-reliance, hard knocks, heart hunger, unceasing work, and generosity. There was no form of suffering with which the girl could not sympathize, no work she was afraid to attempt, no subject she had investigated she did not understand. These things combined to produce a breadth and depth of character altogether unusual. — Gene Stratton-Porter

I don't think you can live as long as I have in rock n' roll and not take a few hard knocks. — Joe Cocker

Courage is to take hard knocks like a man when occasion calls. — Plautus

Where do we enroll in Life 101? Where are the classes dealing with the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, the failure of a relationship? Unfortunately, those lessons are mostly learned through trial by fire and the school of hard knocks. — Les Brown

As my father would have said, I went through the college of hard knocks. — Gloria Allred

The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe that bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard knocks of this world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe that defeat is just a temporary setback or a challenge, that its causes are just confined to this one case. — Martin Seligman

There is only one road to human greatness: through the school of hard knocks. — Albert Einstein

Most people, once they graduate from the School of Hard Knocks, automatically enroll in the University of Adversity. — Peter McWilliams

It takes a good many years and some pretty hard knocks to make people tolerant. — Mary Roberts Rinehart

I never expected my graduate degrees to give me all the practical how-to's that can perhaps only be learned through the school of hard knocks. — David Livermore

I've had the school of hard knocks, and I've worked my way up to be the governor of this great state of Connecticut. — William O'Neill

By exposing yourself to risk, you're exposing yourself to heavy-duty learning, which gets you on all levels. It becomes a very emotional experience as well as an intellectual experience. Each time you make a mistake, you're learning from the school of hard knocks, which is the best education available. — Gifford Pinchot