Uphill Quotes

Most ideas never happen. It's an uphill battle against the status quo and our own tendencies. ~ Scott Belsky

My job is to build that belief in every coach and every owner, that they can put the franchise in my hands and I can take it uphill from there. Obviously, everyone wants to be No. 1, but I'm not going to campaign. I'm just going to go out and show what I've got. ~ Robert Griffin III

The Tour (de France) is essentially a math problem, a 2,000-mile race over three weeks that's sometimes won by a margin of a minute or less. How do you propel yourself through space on a bicycle, sometimes steeply uphill, at a speed sustainable for three weeks? Every second counts. ~ Lance Armstrong

There are no planes in the spiritual life; we are either going uphill or coming down. ~ Fulton J. Sheen

Americans who want to perform in Europe face a cultural and vocal uphill battle. We're considered good students, very professional and often technically sound; but though there are droves of us to choose from, a European singer is almost always going to be the first choice of a European company - and often, of an American company as well. ~ Renee Fleming

In a marriage, a woman has to be the backbone, the compromiser; yet half the time she feels powerless. Marriage isn't easy. There are a lot of pitfalls, steep uphill battles, obstacles, compromises, and sacrifices. As the saying goes, the man is the head of the household, but truth be told, I am still trying to understand how that is so. There are some good men out there who successfully honor their role as a husband and a father to their children. However, there are so many single mothers in the world today who are the heads of households, being both the mother and the father. ~ Charlena E. Jackson

Uphill, downhill, I like that. ~ Peter Sagan

Life is hard. If we go with these feelings that are wrong, our lives are going to be even more of an uphill battle. things are hard enough, you know? Why make it worse? ~ Sara Shepard

At the point where he, today's Ivan Ilyich, began to emerge, all the pleasures that had seemed so real melted away now before his eyes and turned into something trivial and often disgusting.
And the further he was from childhood, the nearer he got to the present day, the more trivial and dubious his pleasures appeared. It started with law school. That had retained a little something that was really good: there was fun, there was friendship, there was hope. But in the last years the good times had become more exceptional. Then, at the beginning of his service with the governor, some good times came again: memories of making love to a woman. Then it became all confused, and the good times were not so many. After that there were fewer still; the further he went the fewer there were.
Marriage. . .an accident and such a disappointment, and his wife's bad breath, and all that sensuality and hypocrisy! And the deadlines of his working life, and those money worries, going on for a year, two years, ten, twenty - always the same old story. And the longer it went on the deadlier it became.
'It's as if I had been going downhill when I thought I was going uphill. That's how it was. In society's opinion I was heading uphill, but in equal measure life was slipping away from me...And now it's all over. Nothing left but to die! ~ Leo Tolstoy

The wealth always flowed uphill and into the hands of a few. It was the way of the world, ~ R.A. Salvatore

shelter and uphill. I wasn't ready for that. Left at 8:30 this morning and pulled in at 3:30. I wish I had a hiking companion. It was nice hiking with Mary. I suspect I'll be at this site alone, after spending last night with over twenty people. Other than the pack weight, the weather makes one the biggest of the ~ Chuck Aldridge

Failure can't live in the company of perseverance.

Failure eventually surrenders. Corky and Shirley taught me this. It took them ten years to win Blackpool. Ten years! Some people would give up and throw in the towel after ten minutes! Every time they lost, all the people around them blamed Corky. But he was relentless. He was going to prove his talent not just to the naysayers but also to himself. There were many times as a competitive dancer when I felt deflated and not good enough, but I never gave up--the Ballases never let me. You always have to keep on moving forward and having faith. Think of the greatest leaders we know. What do they all have in common? They all fought some uphill battle to get where they are. Call it tenacity, persistence, or plain old stubbornness. When someone or something tries to push me off my path, that's when I dig my heels in even harder. I'll be honest: in some areas of my life, I have this mastered. In others, I need a little reminder now and then. There's nothing you can't do if you see it through. ~ Derek Hough

Whenever I think I've had an uphill battle, I remember Matt Murdock. Not just because he's blind, although even with his other senses hyper-enhanced, that is a climb. And not because he's become a world famous lawyer despite his impairment. But because being Daredevil has cost him everything more than once, more than twice and yet he still suits up any time there's trouble. Because he is a man without fear.

Spider-Man ~ Mark Waid

Something is coming uphill," said Mother Wolf, twitching one ear. "Get ready." The bushes rustled a little in the thicket, and Father Wolf dropped with his haunches under him, ready for his leap. Then, if you had been watching, you would have seen the most wonderful thing in the world - the wolf checked in mid-spring. He made his bound before he saw what it was he was jumping at, and then he tried to stop himself. The result was that he shot up straight into the air for four or five feet, landing almost ~ Rudyard Kipling

The fragility of crystal is not a weakness but a fineness. My parents understood that fine crystal glass had to be cared for or may be shattered. But when it came to my brother, they didn't seem to know or care that their course of their secret action brought the kind of devastation that could cut them. Their fraudulent marriage and our father's denial of his other son was for Chris a murder of every day's truth. He felt his whole life turned like a river suddenly reversing the direction of its flow. Suddenly running uphill. These revelations struck at the core of Chris's sense of identity. They made his entire childhood seem like fiction. Chris never told them he knew and made me promise silence as well. ~ Jon Krakauer

It's the equivalent of putting on the brakes suddenly while driving uphill. ~ John Gunther

Luck is buying a lottery ticket along with your Yoo-hoo and striking it rich. Nothing about my life is lucky- it is all about hard work, it is all uphill struggle. ~ Emily Giffin

It's a long, uphill fight to get back to original orthodoxy. We have two 'originalists' on the Supreme Court. That's something. ~ Antonin Scalia

Think chest/hips/ push, or CHP, when it's time for uphill running. Chest up, hips forward, push strongly off each foot. ~ Jeff Galloway

Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' lad,
The Skipper brave and sure,
Five passengers set sail that day,
For a three hour tour,
A three hour tour.


The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Minnow would be lost.
The Minnow would be lost.

The ship set ground on the shore
Of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan,
The Skipper too.
The millionaire
And his wife,
The movie star,
The professor and Mary Ann,
Here on Gilligan's Isle.



So this is the tale of our castaways,
They're here for a long long time.
They'll have to make the best of things,
It's an uphill climb.

The first mate and his Skipper too
Will do their very best,
To make the others comf'terble
In their tropic island nest.

No phone, no lights, no motor car,
Not a single luxury
Like Robinson Crusoe
It's primitive as can be.

So join us here each week my friends,
You're sure to get a smile,
From seven stranded castaways
Here on Gilligan's Isle! ~ Sherwood Schwartz

The road to success runs uphill. ~ Willie Davis

Making prohibition work is like making water run uphill; it's against nature. ~ Milton Friedman

When the uphill battle seems unwinnable, when you're ready to throw in the towel, remember that. Remember your strength. You are worth something. And you deserve happiness. ~ Helen Hardt

The ride back to Kathmandu was comfortable and relaxing. There were more overturned trucks (the gas-powered ones seem to tip the most often, I'm surprised there weren't more explosions), goats being herded across the highway by ancient women, children playing games in traffic, private cars and buses alike pulling over in the most inconvenient places for a picnic or public bath, and best of all the suicidal overtaking maneuvers (or what we would call 'passing') by our bus and others while going downhill at incredible speeds or around hairpin turns uphill with absolutely no power left to actually get around the other vehicle. ~ Jennifer S. Alderson

We all have regrets, Allison," he said, his voice unbearably gentle. "We all have succumbed to the darkness and the monster. There is not one vampire in the world who has not. Even James has points in his past he would change, if he could. The important thing is that you do not let these points define you. James gave up fighting it long ago. For you and I, it is a constant uphill battle not to give in, not to become that demon, and it will be that way for eternity. I will not lie and tell you it gets any easier. ~ Julie Kagawa

Was not -- should not -- a "career" be something splendid, wonderful, spectacular at the very least, something varied and exciting? Could my long, uphill struggle, through many quiet, uneventful years, be termed a "career"? ~ L.M. Montgomery

It was dawning on me how uphill a poet's path was, and I confessed to her that if I had to be the choice between being happy or being a poet, I'd choose to be happy. ~ Mary Karr

Sometimes you won't feel pleasant during a meditation session; it seems like an uphill run. But when you get to the top, the view is rather breathtaking. ~ Frederick Lenz

But until we get rid of that shame, then people are going to stay underground, they are not going to get tested, and we're facing an uphill battle [with AIDS]. ~ Elton John

When you hang out with whiners, pessimists, tweakers, bleakers, freakers-outers, and life-is-so-unfairers, it's an uphill climb to keep yourself in a positive headspace. Stay away from people who see limitless possibility as the reality. Surround yourself with people who act on their big ideas, who take action on making positive change in the world and who see nothing as out of their reach. ~ Jen Sincero

Bowling would be more interesting if it were slightly uphill. ~ Demetri Martin

My hair is a battle. It's an uphill, fine, baby-haired battle. ~ Emma Stone

I'm not saying it will always be easy because we are human. Two people in love will always have uphill battles but it's how you handle those challenges that truly matter. ~ Kathryn Perez

When you're a Republican Latino, you're traveling uphill on a lonely road. Still, it's the road I prefer. It has led me to opportunity far beyond my dreams. I've worked on eight Republican presidential races, as well as for some of the world's largest corporations, all because the doors of opportunity, not the doors of welfare, were open to me. ~ Lionel Sosa

Trying to make someone love you is like trying to climb uphill during an avalanche. ~ Valerie J. Lewis Coleman

You can always tell when you are on the road to success; it's uphill all the way. ~ Paul Harvey

The music industry went through such a strange stretch in 1977, especially in this country, with the whole punk rock thing coming about. Punk was rebellious-and justified in that response-but it had very little to do with music, and so it created a highly-charged but frighteningly floundering atmosphere that I found very, very disheartening. Musical quality for me has always been an important part of rock'n'roll-and winning recognition for that has long been an uphill battle all the way. Punk seemed like rock'n'roll utterly without the music. ~ Steve Winwood

There's no limit to what you can accomplish, but there's always someone one step ahead of you, so it's a constant uphill battle. ~ Catherine Mary Stewart

'Lost' did alright, you know. Not that I didn't get into it - I just never watched enough of them; but the uphill battle is that you've got to stay tuned. ~ Jason Wiles

Galen and Rayna are close."
I gasp. "How do you know that? I can't feel them." My heart turns traitor, beating like I just ran five miles uphill. It has nothing to do with sensing and everything to do with the mention of Galen's name.
"I'm a Tracker, Emma. I can sense them from almost across the world. Especially Rayna. And from the feel of things, Galen is flittering that cute little fin of his like crazy to get back to you. Rayna must be riding on his back."
"You can tell what she's doing?"
"I can tell how fast she's moving. No one can swim as fast as Galen, Rayna included. He must be pretty impatient to see you."
"Yeah. Impatient for me to change so he can have another royal subject to order around."
Toraf's laughter startles me, not because it's loud, but because his mood seems to swing around on an axis. "Is that what you think?" he says. ~ Anna Banks

It's as if I had been going downhill when I thought I was going uphill. That's how it was. In society's opinion I was heading uphill, but in equal measure life was slipping away from me ... And now it's all over. Nothing left but to die!"
"So what's it all about? What's it for? It's not possible. It's not possible that life could have been as senseless and sickening as this. And if it has really been as sickening and senseless as this why do I have to die, and die in agony? There's something wrong. Maybe I didn't live as I should have done?" came the sudden thought. "But how can that be when I did everything properly?" he wondered, instantly dismissing as a total impossibility the one and only solution to the mystery of life and death. ~ Leo Tolstoy

It's a real uphill challenge to battle the white-guyness. ~ Billy Gibbons

Religion requires action, labour, diligence; for it does not consist in airy, empty notions and speculations of the head but in the exercise of the mind and heart. Habits must be exerted; grace, improved. Heaven (that is, all uphill) must be strived for and gotten, as it were, by force and victory. ~ John Fox

The uphill climb is slow,but the downhill road is fast. ~ John Wooden

To ask for power is forcing uphill a stone which after all rolls back again from the summit and seeks in headlong haste the levels of the plain. ~ Lucretius

It is true that water will flow indifferently to east and west, but will it flow equally well up and down? Human nature is disposed toward goodness, just as water tends to flow downwards. There is no water but flows downwards, and no man but shows his tendency to be good. Now, by striking water hard, you may splash it higher than your forehead, and by damming it, you may make it go uphill. But, is that the nature of water? It is external force that causes it to do so. Likewise, if a man is made to do what is not good, his nature is being similarly forced. ~ Mencius

It's not enough that we have to handle our own race's problems," Claude said. "Now we're sucked into the fucking vampire struggles, too."
"No," I said, feeling I was walking uphill in this conversation. "You as a group weren't sucked into the vampire struggles. One of you was taken for a specific purpose. Different scenario. ~ Charlaine Harris

You've got a great deal on your shoulders, son. It was't long ago you lost the person most dear to you. Your father's trying to force an apocalypse, and you're fighting an uphill battle against me and everyone else to stop it. The only person that's supported you entirely is Rayna, a girl whom you've only known a few months.

You're not making me feel better. ~ M.R. Merrick

The big hurdle is going out and raising the revenue. There's no doubt about that; it's an uphill battle. ~ Terry Porter

For all the scientific evidence we were amassing, many people, both in government and in the citizenry our elected officials are supposedly beholden to, were still refusing to accept that anything out of the ordinary was happening.
I wasn't the only voice screaming in the wilderness anymore - but still, not everyone heard the call. In those first few years, it was a long uphill battle to get people to recognize what was happening. ~ James Patterson

One day, you will surely come across the Touring Trifecta: Uphill, headwind, in the rain. ~ Peter Rice

Forty feet long sixty feet high hotel
Covered with old gray for buzzing flies
Eye like mango flowing orange pus
Ears Durga people vomiting in their sleep
Got huge legs a dozen buses move inside Calcutta
Swallowing mouthfuls of dead rats
Mangy dogs bark out of a thousand breasts
Garbage pouring from its ass behind alleys
Always pissing yellow Hooghly water
Bellybutton melted Chinatown brown puddles
Coughing lungs Sound going down the sewer
Nose smell a big gray Bidi
Heart bumping and crashing over tramcar tracks
Covered with a hat of cloudy iron
Suffering water buffalo head lowered
To pull the huge cart of year uphill ~ Allen Ginsberg

History has shown that there are very few mechanisms as effective at maintaining the status quo as a set of institutionalized regulations. Once set in regulatory concrete, reconsideration of the basic underlying assumptions is very difficult. While it will be an uphill fight to re-examine the basic underlying assumptions of any law or administrative rule, it is clearly not impossible. It will just take longer than if not so well institutionalized. ~ Paul Baran

Living with a stammer is difficult. It's a daily uphill struggle with emotional baggage weighing you down. You can't be the person you want to be. ~ Gareth Gates

Love is an uphill climb, but once you know yourself and like yourself just as you are, it's all downhill from there. ~ Valerie Frankel

You can t coast uphill. ~ Roger Crawford

The road to freedom must be uphill, even if it is arduous and frustrating. ~ Andrew Goodman

Depression is like a heaviness that you can't ever escape. It crushes down on you, making even the smallest things like tying your shoes or chewing on toast seem like a twenty-mile hike uphill. Depression is a part of you; it's in your bones and your blood. ~ Jasmine Warga

As a revolutionary people, we Americans won a probable victory over the best and biggest army in the world because we learned to fight from the Indians. You can do a lot of damage with a Kentucky rifle from behind a tree. You don't put on a peaked hat and a red coat and white leggings and crossed white bandoleers with a big silver buckle in the center of the X and march uphill into a line of Howitzers loaded with chain and chopped horseshoes. ~ James Lee Burke

The way to paradise is an uphill climb whereas hell is downhill. Hence, there is a struggle to get to paradise and not to hell. ~ Al-Ghazali

Because I've been around guys like that my whole life. He will always be a little boy who acts like a dog. Guys don't really change who they are at their core. Even if he wanted to, it would be a completely uphill battle, and he's not man enough for the journey. ~ Sheri Fink

I have scratched the steepness
of the uphill road lying under my feet,
collecting pebbles in dust: the days of which you confess.
But I have decided not to retreat.
I have decided to sing in blood dripping gowns,
I have decided to meet all of it in deserted towns.
I have decided to not let it go, to not let it go,
I have decided to keep you, to keep you so. ~ Ashfaq Saraf

A perfect morning; in perfect harmony with myself I'm walking briskly uphill ... For once I didn't notice that I was walking, all the way up to the mountaintop forest I was absorbed in deep thought. Perfect clarity and freshness in the air, up further there's some snow. The tangerines make me completely euphoric. ~ Werner Herzog

Nothing about my life is lucky - it's all about hard work, it is all an uphill struggle. ~ Emily Giffin

About five miles back I had a brush with the CHP. Not stopped or pulled over: nothing routine. I always drive properly. A bit fast, perhaps, but always with consummate skill and a natural feel for the road that even cops recognize. No cop was ever born who isn't a sucker for a finely-executed hi-speed Controlled Drift all the way around one of those cloverleaf freeway interchanges.

Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop. Your normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side when he sees the big red light behind him ... and then he will start apologizing, begging for mercy.

This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop-heart. The thing to do – when you're running along about 100 or so and you suddenly find a red-flashing CHP-tracker on your tail – what you want to do then is accelerate. Never pull over with the first siren-howl. Mash it down and make the bastard chase you at speeds up to 120 all the way to the next exit. He will follow. But he won't know what to make of your blinker-signal that says you're about to turn right.

This is to let him know you're looking for a proper place to pull off and talk ... keep signaling and hope for an off-ramp, one of those uphill side-loops with a sign saying "Max Speed 25" ... and the trick, at this point, is to suddenly leave the freeway and take him into the chute at no less than 100 miles an hour.

He will lock his brakes about the same time ~ Hunter S. Thompson

Women could protest from now till piss flowed uphill, but the truth was, there wasn't one didn't secretly love a killer. And ~ Thomas Pynchon

And the stigma hasn't really changed that much in 31 years. You are still getting people - it's a shame-based disease. It's based on sexual transmission. And it's still shame-based. And until people feel strong enough and feel loved enough to actually open up and say, listen, I'm HIV-positive, then we are facing an uphill battle. ~ Elton John

It often feels like a tremendous amount of work is required to get an idea moving forward, like pushing a train uphill. But at a certain point, the thing takes on its own momentum, and takes unexpected turns. So it's that feeling of holding on, rather than pushing it, that is the most exciting thing. It's that need to occasionally bounce off the walls, letting anything happen for any reason, and having nothing to guide you that is the joy. ~ Danny Elfman

I was concious of Zach's breathing, his shirt pulled across his chest, one arm draped on the steering wheel. The hard, dark look of it. The mystery of his skin.
It was foolish to think some things were beyond happening, even being attracted to Negroes. I'd honestly thought such a thing couldn't happen, the way water could nog run uphill or salt could not taste sweet. A law of nature. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

I am not enough to be only in the mountains, not enough to be on an expedition. I believe that if the walks uphill, then with some goal, and that goal is to climb to the top. ~ Jerzy Kukuczka

We worked for the four days of that blizzard, loosening the mortar in the lower stones of Castle Munth. The wind and storm did the rest; after the walls fell, we melted snow from uphill with our combined Fire Sticks. The resulting flood was impressive.
By the next morning, when the scouts we left behind saw the first of Debegri's soldiers march up the road, the whole mess had frozen into ice, with our ex-prisoners wandering around poking dismally at the ruins. It would take a great deal of effort to make any use of Munth, and the scouts were still laughing when they came to report. ~ Sherwood Smith

It's always an uphill battle. You know, I'm a Republican in Maryland. This is the bluest of the blue. ~ Bob Ehrlich

When you lose a goal so early, you've always got an uphill mountain. ~ Steve Claridge

What can you do if a part of it is uphill? You can't work out another route. You've just got to run the one they give you. But they tell me London is a nice course. Even the cobbles, I hope, are not very much of a problem for me. ~ Haile Gebrselassie

All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill. ~ Babe Ruth

You can curl up in the fetal position and try to wish away all the things that need doing, or you can get started on that uphill battle to reclaim your life. The difficulty isn't what choice to make, because that part is obvious. The difficulty lies in finding the energy and inspiration to make the right choice. ~ Noel Fisher

He imagines the water running in thick curving lines, like the drawings of the tree's roots, cutting through stone and spilling over the earth. And then he reverses the flow of water, letting his imagination take over, and he sees the water racing north, uphill, towards the Catskills, weaving around towns, beneath bridges, rushing over stones and cutting through the trees, until it lands at the feet of Alice Pearson, who stands on the shore, looking out at the place where the water meets the sky. ~ Beth Hahn

...there is no such thing as a ferocious charge uphill. ~ Christian Cameron

However, when the circumstances in front of you are too overwhelming, you may turn around and run away. The battle appears to be all uphill and impossible and for what? You feel like the relationship holds no guarantee. Especially, if you've already been through a lot in your life, it may not seem worth it to fight through the chaos for the possibility of true love. ~ Stephan Labossiere

In general, Americans would walk a mile uphill in the rain to avoid pain, unless the walk could be shorter and level and the day sunny, which they'd prefer. ~ Geoffrey Wood

The wind swoops over the tenements on Orchard Street, where some of those starry-eyed dreams have died and yet other dreams are being born into squalor and poverty, an uphill climb. It gives a slap to the laundry stretched on lines between tenements, over dirty, broken streets where, even at this hour, hungry children scour the bins for food. The wind has existed forever. It has seen much in this country of dreams and soap ads, old horrors and bloodshed. It has played mute witness to its burning witches, and has walked along a Trail of Tears; it has seen the slave ships release their human cargo, blinking and afraid, into the ports, their only possession a grief they can never lose. ~ Libba Bray

Who would rule a nation when he could have easier work, such as carrying water uphill in a sieve? ~ Robert Jordan

It's always an uphill battle to defeat a Supreme Court nominee, but this is a fight worth having. ~ Kim Gandy

Our children are diligent and precious to us. Whether we know it or not, they are fighting an indescribable uphill battle every day. Bullying is not accepted. ~ Charlena E. Jackson

Trails need to be reconstructed. Please avoid building trails that go uphill. ~ Dave Barry

Beauty is in the streets," they say in Paris. We travelers know our favorites, Parisians know theirs. Jean Genet liked to stand with his friend Giacometti at the foot of rue Oberkampf, taking in its long uphill from the Marais to Belleville. Simone Weil loved walking the quays of Île Saint-Louis in her native river city. The scruffy streets of the ninth were François Truffaut's muse and mother.

As cities evolve and erupt, streets change; Parisians come and go. But the beauty remains. ~ Susan Cahill

Passion is different than desire. People that are successful recognize passion. You have to be willing to work at it. I love the image of pushing a boulder uphill - it will flourish you. ~ John Schneider

As soon as I got up on that stage, and I remembered how welcoming and warming the judges, their presence is, and it was just all uphill from there. ~ James Durbin

What a joy it is that the road ahead is an uphill climb. For where it leads is all the way to the top. ~ Ralph Marston

If anyone ever said biopic I would say, "It's not a biopic." We're fighting uphill against the weight of history. I was like, why don't we just call it historical fiction? ~ Don Cheadle

Tackling malaria in a country like the Central African Republic is a huge uphill battle, and my experiences there have been a healthy dose of reality, fueling my own sense of urgency to do my part in reducing the preventable suffering of the incredible women I met. ~ Mandy Moore

If the journey is uphill, you're probably on the right path. ~ Judah Lee Davis

The trick to great romance is in overcoming adversity. In realizing that love is worth some uphill climbs. ~ Sarah MacLean

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow-
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit ~ John Greenleaf Whittier

When I was growing up, I'd walk to school in the snow. In Florida. Uphill all three ways. ~ Jarod Kintz

The weeks up there were almost the most beautiful in my life. I breathed the pure, clear air, drank the icy water from streams and watched the herds of goats grazing on the steep slopes, guarded by dark-haired, musing goatherds. At times I heard storms resound through the valley and saw mists and clouds at unusually close quarters. In the clefts of rocks I observed the small, delicate, bright coloured flowers and the many wonderful mosses, and on clear days I used to like to walk uphill for an hour until I could see the clearly outlined distant peaks of high mountains, their blue silhouettes, and white, sparkling snow fields across the other side of the hill. ~ Hermann Hesse

It's always a struggle. It's an uphill battle the whole time. But you know what? The rewards are so graet, I wouldn't trade it for the world. ~ Jennifer Lopez

We have a soul at times.
No one's got it non-stop,
for keeps.

Day after day,
year after year
may pass without it.

Sometimes
it will settle for awhile
only in childhood's fears and raptures.
Sometimes only in astonishment
that we are old.

It rarely lends a hand
in uphill tasks,
like moving furniture,
or lifting luggage,
or going miles in shoes that pinch.

It usually steps out
whenever meat needs chopping
or forms have to be filled.

For every thousand conversations
it participates in one,
if even that,
since it prefers silence.

Just when our body goes from ache to pain,
it slips off-duty.

It's picky:
it doesn't like seeing us in crowds,
our hustling for a dubious advantage
and creaky machinations make it sick.

Joy and sorrow
aren't two different feelings for it.
It attends us
only when the two are joined.

We can count on it
when we're sure of nothing
and curious about everything.

Among the material objects
it favors clocks with pendulums
and mirrors, which keep on working
even when no one is looking.

It won't say where it comes from
or when it's taking off again,
though it's clearly expecting such questions.

We need it
but apparently
it needs us
for some reason too. ~ Wisława Szymborska

A liberal is a person who believes that water can be made to run uphill. A conservative is someone who believes everybody should pay for his water. I'm somewhere in between: I believe water should be free, but that water flows downhill. ~ Theodore White

The counselor says that we are "at the beginning of a long, uphill journey." She says, "Relapse is a part of recovery."

I think, You have got to be fucking kidding me.

I say, "Do I look like someone who's ready for a long, uphill journey?" Lucy snickers for a second, and I love her. I lover her much more than I want to.

But I am worn down and out. The thought of another trip crushes me. I tell Lucy, You are my family. But I'm not coming with you. ~ Ariel Levy