'Adversity, if you allow it to, will fortify you and make you the best you can be.'

'Sometimes opportunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes you can grab it.'

- Actress Julie Andrews (1935 - present)

'In my experience, each failure contains the seeds of your next success—if you are willing to learn from it.'

- Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen (1953–2018)

'Without goals, training has no direction.'

- Twelve-time Olympic swimming medalist Natalie Coughlin (1982-present)

A quote by gymnast Nadia Comăneci

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray to be a strong person."

'I always like to fake bravery. But I really think that solidified me being brave, speaking up for myself and just putting myself first.'

- Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles (1997-present)

'Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great.'

- Cherilyn "Cher" Sarkisian (1946-present)

'Reputation is what others think about you. What’s far more important is character, because that is what you think about yourself.'

- Tennis champion Billie Jean King (1943-present)

'Practice, which some regard as a chore, should be approached as just about the most pleasant recreation ever devised.'

- Legendary athlete Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956)

'It might be that some day I shall be drowned by the sea, or die of pneumonia from sleeping out at night, or be robbed and strangled by strangers. These things happen. Even so, I shall be ahead because of trusting the beach, the night and strangers.'

-Janet Reno, the US' first female attorney general (1938-2016)

A quote from sports journalist Stuart Scott

"In football, as in life, the hits you don’t see coming are the ones that do the most damage."

'I am a writer who came from a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.'

- American novelist Eudora Welty (1909-2001)

'I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.'

- Martha Washington (1731-1802)

'I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse.'

- Modern nursing innovator Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)

Some of the 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek's best quotes

"The secret to happiness, of course, is not getting what you want; it's wanting what you get."

1975: Betty Ford, remarks at the International Women's Year Conference

"Change, by its very nature, is threatening but it is also often productive."

The case for optimism

Author, editor, and thinker Kevin Kelly makes an argument for optimism. Not only as a personal philosophy, but as a moral obligation, focusing on the need for optimism in overcoming challenges. Drawing examples ranging back to the Wright brothers,...

'Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.'

- Author James Baldwin (1924–1987)

Author David Foster Wallace's 'This Is Water' speech provides guidance for adulthood

Grit: passion combined with perseverance over an extended time

Roughly defined as a balance of perseverance and passion, Angela Duckworth defines this combination as an essential component of reaching long-term goals. Not merely about talent or luck, Duckworth argues the personality trait enables individuals to maintain their commitment to significant objectives over extended periods, despite facing challenges and setbacks.

Axelle Berthoumieu bit Ireland's Aoife Wafer during the Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter‑final in 2025

Biting, waxing pool balls, and modifying ski suits are just a few of the various instances of bad sportsmanship in 2025. It appears that cheating is much harder to get away with in the era of smartphones.

How endurance athletes can build resilience

Long-distance runners and other endurance athletes can improve their performances using tips explored in this article. Findings from two recent studies show that strength training, high-altitude training, and intense interval sessions are all potential methods for ameliorating long-term athletic capabilities.

'A good friend is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have.'

- Irish Proverb

Social support plays a critical role in recovery from addiction

This engaging TEDx talk from addiction researcher Jacki Hillios explores addiction recovery through a transformative lens and Phoenix Multisport—an innovative program helping people rebuild their lives through active lifestyles. By living out its core message that people are not defined by their disease, the program demonstrates the power of social support in recovery.

Watch actress Kristen Bell discuss her challenges with depression and anxiety

Bell describes how depression can make it difficult to celebrate good news, and how decision fatigue can make simple decisions feel Herculean. She reveals how she wishes she'd discussed these struggles publicly earlier in her career.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

The story of the 1996 Women's Olympic Dream Team

The 1996 US Women’s Basketball Team went 60-0 on their gold medal run and is considered one of the greatest basketball teams ever assembled. The ESPN documentary “30 for 30: Dream On” examines the team’s 14-month journey, which changed the landscape of women’s sports. WNYC’s Alison Stewart interviews Director Kristen Lappas and Dream Team member Carla McGhee about their experience.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Poison ivy will likely become both larger and more resilient due to climate change.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

The power and influence of the American presidency have expanded significantly over time—far beyond what the founders envisioned.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'