Affliction is not sent in vain, young man,
From that good God, who chastens whom he loves.

Affliction is not sent in vain, young man,
From that good God, who chastens whom he loves.

If I didn't have this affliction, I would be the first. As a rule the if-clause contains an unfulfillable condition, read more

If I didn't have this affliction, I would be the first. As a rule the if-clause contains an unfulfillable condition, or the patient's own arrangement, which only he can change.

Affliction is the good man's shining scene;
Prosperity conceals his brightest ray;
As night to stars, woe read more

Affliction is the good man's shining scene;
Prosperity conceals his brightest ray;
As night to stars, woe lustre gives to man.

As threshing separates the wheat from the chaff, so does affliction purify virtue.

As threshing separates the wheat from the chaff, so does affliction purify virtue.

I know of no man of genius who had not to pay, in some affliction or defect either physical or read more

I know of no man of genius who had not to pay, in some affliction or defect either physical or spiritual, for what the gods had given him.

Though all afflictions are evils in themselves, yet they are good for us, because they discover to us our disease read more

Though all afflictions are evils in themselves, yet they are good for us, because they discover to us our disease and tend to our cure.

By afflictions God is spoiling us of what otherwise might have spoiled us. When he makes the world too hot read more

By afflictions God is spoiling us of what otherwise might have spoiled us. When he makes the world too hot for us to hold, we let it go.

When something [an affliction] happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it.

When something [an affliction] happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it.

Humanity either makes, or breeds, or tolerates all its afflictions.

Humanity either makes, or breeds, or tolerates all its afflictions.