Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln
Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.
Arthur Golden
Adversity is the first path to truth.
Lord Byron
Adversity introduces a man to himself.
Unknown
Great men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war
Seneca
Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to us
Samuel Johnson
Prosperity discovers vice, adversity discovers virtue.
Francis Bacon, Sr.
In adversity remember to keep an even mind.
Horace
Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.
Francis Bacon, Sr.
Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.
Victor Hugo
Adversity draws men together and produces beauty and harmony in life's relationships, just as the cold of winter produces ice-flowers on the window-panes, which vanish with the warmth.
Soren Kierkegaard
Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed that one is adversity.
Plutarch
Adversity makes a man wise, not rich
Romanian Proverb