Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.                                                         —Alexander Hamilton

The wise man always throws himself on the side of his assailants. It is more his interest than it is theirs to find his weak point.     —Ralph Waldo Emerson

A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.           —Baltasar Gracián y Morales

The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it.

—Epicurus

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.            —Albert Einstein

Don’t be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against — not with — the wind.   —Hamilton Mabie

Break the anger habit. It is a waste of valuable energy to rail against adverse events. Stuff happens. Get over it and move on.

—Sibyl McLendon

I have learnt that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.                —Booker T. Washington

Have you learned lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who rejected you, and braced themselves against you, or disputed the passage with you?           —Walt Whitman

In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.                —John Kenneth Galbraith

Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.       —Thucydides

New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

—John Locke