Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.

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.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

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.

No man is more unhappy than the one who is never in adversity; the greatest affliction of life is never read more

No man is more unhappy than the one who is never in adversity; the greatest affliction of life is never to be afflicted.

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity--another man's I mean.

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity--another man's I mean.

We become wiser by adversity; prosperity destroys our appreciation of the right.

We become wiser by adversity; prosperity destroys our appreciation of the right.

In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends

In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends

Constant success shows us but one side of the world; adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.

Constant success shows us but one side of the world; adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.