Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.

Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.

And these vicissitudes come best in youth;
For when they happen at a riper age,
People are read more

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 woman's rage,
Whether his winters be eighteen or eighty,
Has won experience which is deem'd so weighty.

When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the read more

When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.

Aromatic plants bestow
No spicy fragrance while they grow;
But crush'd or trodden to the ground,
read more

Aromatic plants bestow
No spicy fragrance while they grow;
But crush'd or trodden to the ground,
Diffuse their balmy sweets around.

Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious read more

Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

Great men rejoice in adversity just as brave soldiers triumph in
war.
[Lat., Gaudent magni viri rebus adversis read more

Great men rejoice in adversity just as brave soldiers triumph in
war.
[Lat., Gaudent magni viri rebus adversis non aliter, quam fortes
milites bellis.]

Beware of the friend who was once your foe.

Beware of the friend who was once your foe.

Behold a worthy sight, to which the God, turning his attention to
his own work, may direct his gaze. read more

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.
[Lat., Ecce spectaculum dignum, ad quod respiciat intentus operi
suo Deus. Ecce par Deo dignum, vir fortis cum mala fortuna
compositus.]