When I was young, I could bounce back from things like a brand-new rubber ball.
Defeat begins with the fear that one has lost.
It's a dangerous dog that doesn't bark.
Year after year students tumble along like the waters of a river. They flow away, and only the teacher is left behind, like some deeply buried rock at the bottom of the current.
The thorn of death falls from heaven, and its myriad forms leave us no room to move.
A plausible rumor / Seems a lot more believable / Than the truth itself.