It was rather a trying ordeal
The goal is far more remote than we had supposed it to be
It is difficult enough under the most favorable circumstances
It is difficult to possess one’s soul in patience when——
The situation was very badly complicated by——
He is up against a tough proposition
The way is not wholly smooth
It may seem a hard doctrine to preach at such a moment
We live in no soft and easy days
I find the medicine worse than the malady