we celebrate survival, but being a survivor does not necessarily make you a good person.

Pretending you're OK when you aren't isn't strength.

Strength is separate from survival.
What endures isn't always what escapes
& what is withered can still withstand.

only the strongest we survive

There are neither the strong nor the weak. Can anyone say that the weak do not suffer more than the strong?

You survived. Whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right?” I don’t, of course, believe this. Most things that don’t kill us right off, kill us later.

I don't think you're weak for being scared. I don't think you could be as strong as you are if you weren't.

If you survive, you have to prove it was that bad; or else, they think you are.
Surviving is some kind of sin, like floating up off the dunking stool like a witch. You have to be permanently écorchée, heart-on-sleeve, offering up organs and body parts like a medieval female saint.

Your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.

The stronger we are relative to others, the less willing we generally are to change. We see strength as an immediate advantage that we don’t want to compromise. However, it’s not strength that survives, but adaptability. Strength becomes rigidity.

of being strong and brave. The strong can not be brave. Only the weak can be brave; and yet again, in practice, only those who can be brave can be trusted, in time of doubt, to be strong.

Not everything that happens happens for a reason, but everything that survives survives for a reason.

Survival is not a theory.

But failure is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign that you are alive and growing.