Can you help me find this quote?

I saw this on a statue at the NC Zoo and should have written it down. It is very short and says something about how the harder life is the more meaningful it is. Or the more we fight to live it. I think it is by Ann someone? I know the first name starts with an A. Helpful, huh? (I knew I should have written it down.)

It reminded me of a friend with a shitty childhood who overcame so many things through sheer determination and now lives a full, meaningful, joyful life. Still with the ups and downs, but she lives her life. It doesn’t pass her by.