One has to grow hard but without ever losing tenderness.

Hay que ser duro pero jamas perder la ternura.

[It is necessary to be hard but never to lose the tenderness]

Bisogna essere duri senza mai perdere la tenerezza.

Be tough minded but tenderhearted.

He kept growing. He thought it was very important to keep growing all your life.

You have to grow all the time," I said. "Not necessarily get bigger. But inside your head you have to grow, kid-boy. For us human-type people, that's what's important. And that kind of growing never stops. At least, it shouldn't. You can grow, kid-boy, or you can die. That's the choice you've got, and it goes on all of your life.

The weed crushed and pressed by the heavy rock may slowly and gently grow up anew helped by the fresh air, sunshine, and sympathetic rain. On the other hand, the rock is often broken through exposure to nature and weathering. Life is a strong power to grow in tenderness; this fact may be considered as having a close relation with human life. At the same time tenderness has sometimes stronger power against stiffness or hardening due to extreme strain.

You’ve got to be tough as nails with your tender heart

Growth comes with pain.

You can’t just grow all the time. You grow incrementally and in steps

Young bodies are like tender plants, which grow and become hardened to whatever shape you've trained them.

It's hard to grow beyond something if you won't let go of it.

To be gentle, tolerant, wise and reasonable requires a goodly portion of toughness.

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.