Inspirational Quotes For Uncertain Times

The mood this week, as we head into the thick of global shutdown over the Coronavirus, is a mixture of hysteria and astonishment. The world has been completely sideswiped by a microscopic enemy and life as we know it is toppling before our eyes.

We are not the first generation to be hit with an epidemic. History is littered with stories of world-shattering events taking people by surprise:

"Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky. There have been as many plagues as wars in history, yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise."

Albert Camus, The Plague

It can be a source of huge comfort and courage to find an echo in the lives of our predecessors. The times they overcame great difficulty and wrote of how they withstood their tumult. We can gain a sense of being connected unexplainably to a larger humanity and the common cause of being human. More intriguing still, we find in these quotes, echoes of practical wisdom that transcends time and culture.

Somehow calamity has a way of bringing out the best of the human spirit and we see it shine from the pages of men and women of history whose lives were shaped by the stories of their times.

These three quotes are especially wonderful to me because they express hope. Hope is both a feeling and a concept that we must hang on to as we look to come through this uncertain time. Hope comforts and encourages us in the face of the unknown.

Do you take comfort in the words of people who have lived before? If so, share with us the inspirational quotes that are lifting your spirits.

These are three quotes that are especially important to me this week: