Person who never makes excuses

How do you express a person who never makes excuses under any difficult situations?

Example:

When he faced difficult situations, he never backed off or never complained. He was such a _____ person./ He was a ____.

Solution 1:

Idiomatically, a common term for this type of behavior is stand-up. Here is the entry for that adjective (in its relevant sense) in Barbara Kipfer & Robert Chapman, Dictionary of American Slang, fourth edition (2007):

stand-up adj Courageous and personally accountable; bold; GUTSY Most often used in the expression stand-up guy : He handled the humiliating defeat like a stand-up guy/ And he's very, very stand-up (1841+) ... {adjective sense perhaps fr stand up and be counted ["To announce and be accountable for one's convictions, opinions, etc.; not be afraid to speak up"]}

In the example sentences you give, the fill-in-the-blank terms would be as follows:

When he faced difficult situations, he never backed off or never complained. He was such a stand-up person./ He was a stand-up guy.

Solution 2:

Stoical, perhaps?

Resembling a Stoic in austerity, indifference to pleasure and pain, repression of all feeling, and the like.(OED)

Solution 3:

Resilient, maybe? You can say "he was a resilient person." It's in the spectrum of what you're looking for, so it may or may not work for you.

Solution 4:

I would look at synonyms for determined. Examples include:

• resolved
• single-minded
• tenacious
• persevering
• unwavering

I think these words more generally describe someone who doesn't give up, but someone who doesn't give up is much less likely to make excuses than someone who does give up.