While we’ve come so far and made so much progress, there are still challenges ahead of us as we navigate vaccines, COVID variants, and injustices in the world. It can be difficult to find ways of thinking about these challenges that feel energizing and inspiring when we may feel tired or ready for things to be better. Sometimes, it helps to remember that other people, all throughout history, have overcome huge challenges and that we will too.

Here are some quotes to get you thinking and lend some perspective to the time we find ourselves in.

“Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

— Albert Einstein

“If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”

— T.S. Eliot