Prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.

Prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

diamonds shine more brightly foiled by black velvet.

diamonds shine more brightly foiled by black velvet.

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be read more

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.

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.

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.]