And these vicissitudes come best in youth; For when they happen at a riper age, People are apt to blame the Fates, forsooth, And wonder Providence is not more sage. Adversity is the first path to truth: He who hath proved war, storm or womans rage, Whether his winters be eighteen or eighty, Has won the experience which is deemd so weighty. ByronDon Juan. Canto XII. St. 50.
Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity. CarlyleHeroes and Hero Worship. Lecture V.
Aromatic plants bestow No spicy fragrance while they grow; But crushd or trodden to the ground, Diffuse their balmy sweets around. GoldsmithThe Captivity. Act I.
Dans ladversité de nos meilleurs amis nous trouvons toujours quelque chose qui ne nous deplaist pas. In the adversity of our best friends we often find something which does not displease us. La RochefoucauldMaxim 99. (Ed. 1665. Suppressed in 3rd ed. Quoted as old saying.)
Ecce spectaculum dignum, ad quod respiciat intentus operi suo Deus. Ecce par Deo dignum, vir fortis cum mala fortuna compositus. Behold a worthy sight, to which the God, turning his attention to his own work, may direct his gaze. Behold an equal thing, worthy of a God, a brave man matched in conflict with evil fortune. SenecaLib. de Divina Providentia.
Gaudent magni viri rebus adversis non aliter, quam fortes milites bellis. Great men rejoice in adversity just as brave soldiers triumph in war. SenecaDe Providentia. IV.
Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head. As You Like It. Act II. Sc. I. L. 12.
A wretched soul, bruisd with adversity, We bid be quiet when we hear it cry; But were we burthend with like weight of pain, As much, or more, we should ourselves complain. Comedy of Errors. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 34.
His overthrow heapd happiness upon him; For then, and not till then, he felt himself, And found the blessedness of being little. Henry VIII. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 64.
A wise man struggling with adversity is said by some heathen writer to be a spectacle on which the gods might look down with pleasure. Sydney SmithSermon on the Duties of the Queen. (1837)