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.

Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is read more

Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

Adversity makes a man wise, not rich ...

Adversity makes a man wise, not rich ...

The Good are better made by Ill,
As odours crushed are sweeter still.

The Good are better made by Ill,
As odours crushed are sweeter still.

Then know, that I have little wealth to lose.
A man I am, crossed with adversity;
My read more

Then know, that I have little wealth to lose.
A man I am, crossed with adversity;
My riches are these poor habiliments,
Of which if you should here disfurnish me,
You take the sum and substance that I have.

Thou tamer of the human breast,
Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour
The bad affright, afflict the read more

Thou tamer of the human breast,
Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour
The bad affright, afflict the best!

. . . it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

. . . it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

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.

diamonds shine more brightly foiled by black velvet.

diamonds shine more brightly foiled by black velvet.