~ Adversity is a severe instructor, set over us by one who knows us better than we do ourselves, as he loves us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. ~
~ Adversity is, to me at least, a tonic and a bracer. ~
~ The human race has had long experience and a fine tradition in surviving adversity. But we now face a task for which we have little experience, the task of surviving prosperity. ~
~ Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has. ~
~ In the adversity of our best friends we often find something that is not exactly displeasing ~
~ Behold a contest worthy of a god, a brave man matched in conflict with adversity ~
~ Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes ~
~ A dose of adversity is often as needful as a dose of medicine. ~
~ Adversity makes a man wise, not rich ~
~ 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 the experience which is deemed so weighty ~
~ There is another old poet whose name I do not now remember who said, Adversity is the first path to truth ~