Inspirational Quote by Frederick Douglas

by Nicole
(Detroit, MI, USA)

My name is Nicole. I guess I would say that I have had a good life. Sometimes, unexpected things happen in life and you have to deal.

The inspirational quote I've needed to repeat to myself and the quote that I have hanging all over my home is...

"Without Struggle, There is no Progress."

This quote is attributed to Frederick Douglas.

I thought of this quote when I was an autoworker trying to hold the line, when I was helping my mother recover from her fourth stroke, when I didn't have any money for food and other down times in my life. The quote helped me to remember that things would eventually get better.

My struggles have been many: Eviction, addiction to cigarettes, bankruptcy, old vehicles, cold weather in Minnesota and on and on. Continuously, I have cried and remembered that I had to struggle to learn and to be the person that I am.

I have not quite captured the success that I dream of, but I keep working hard and do a lot of struggling to make it. My teenage kids are also inspiration for me to keep struggling. Sometimes, they know I'm going to quote Frederick Douglas and they chant it before I can get the words out.

I saw this quote in a friend's office on one particularly hot day, and my car had just broken down and I returned to the workplace to call for a ride home. I made up my mind at that time that stuff like this was apart of the struggle and that I had to keep going no matter what.

I caught the bus to work for four weeks until I could afford to repair my car but I got through it in part to, "Without Struggle, There is no Progress."