If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would read more

If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own.

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.

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.

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.

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.

His overthrow heaped happiness upon him;
For then, and not till then, he felt himself,
And found read more

His overthrow heaped happiness upon him;
For then, and not till then, he felt himself,
And found the blessedness of being little.

In all distresses of our friends
We first consult our private ends;
While Nature, kindly bent to read more

In all distresses of our friends
We first consult our private ends;
While Nature, kindly bent to ease us,
Points out some circumstance to please us.

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.]

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.]