The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education.

-Angelou, Maya originally MayaJohnson
  I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, ch.29.

There is a kind of strength that is almost frightening in black women. It's as if a steel rod runs right through the head down to the feet.

-Angelou, Maya originally MayaJohnson
  Television interview, 21 Nov. Collected in Conversations with Maya  Angelou (1989).

  Le bonheur engloutit nos forces, comme le malheur e¤  teint nos vertus. Happiness engulfs our strength, just as misfortune extinguishes our virtues.

-Balzac, Honore¤   de
La Peau de chagrin.

Ah! Seigneur! donnez-moi la force et le courage De contempler mon coeur et mon corps sans de¤  go u" t. Lord! give me the strength and the courage To see my heart and my body without disgust.

-Baudelaire, Charles
  Les Fleurs du mal,'Un Voyage   a' Cyth e' re'.

It is beginning to dawn on people that the influence of a nation is not measured by the size of its military budget, but by its industrial strength.

-Benn,Tony (Anthony Neil Wedgwood)
  In The Independent,18  Apr.

Pam, I adore you, Pam, you great mountainous sports girl, Whizzing them over the net, full of the strength of five: That old Malvernian brother, you zephyr and khaki shorts girl, Although he's playing for Woking, Betjeman Can't stand up to your wonderful backhand drive.

-Betjeman, SirJohn
  Old Lights for New Chancels,'PotPourrifrom a SurreyGarden'.

As thy days, so shall thy strength be.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Deuteronomy 33:25.

Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valleyand rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Job 39:19^21.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms 46:1^2.

Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms 73:23^6.

Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms 84:6^7.

The days of our years arethreescore years and ten; and if by reasonof strengththey be fourscore years, yet istheir strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms 90:10.

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Proverbs 24:10.

Inreturning and rest shall ye be saved; inquietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Isaiah 30:15.

And Isaid,My strengthand my hope isperished fromthe L: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDLamentations 3:18^19.

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent emptyaway.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Luke1:46^53.

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

-Bible (NewTestament)
Corinthians12:9.

Behold,I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

-Bible (NewTestament)
Revelation 3:8.

Ocome, let ussing untothe Lord; let usheartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and shew ourselves glad in him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God; and a great King above all gods. In his hand are all the corners of the earth; and the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands prepared the dry land. O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is the Lord our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

-Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 95:1^7.

I grant an ugly woman is a blot on the fair face of creation; but as to the gentleman, let them be solicitous to possess only strength and valour: let their motto be:öHunt, shoot, and fight: the rest is not worth a flip.

-Bronte«  , Charlotte
  Jane Eyre ch.17.