Famous Adversity Quotes

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

A wise man struggling with adversity is said by some heathen writer to be a spectacle on which the gods might look down with pleasure.
-- Sydney Smith

A wretched soul, bruised with adversity, We bid be quiet when we hear it cry. But were we burd'ned with like weight of pain, As much or more we should ourselves complain: So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee, With urging helpless patience wouldst relieve me, But if thou live to see like right bereft, This fool-begged patience in thee will be left.
-- William Shakespeare

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.
-- Horace

Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man, but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.
-- Thomas Carlyle

Adversity is the first path to truth.
-- Lord Byron

Adversity makes a man wise, not rich
-- John Ray

Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.
-- Victor Hugo

Adversity reminds men of religion.
-- Titus Livy

Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy.
-- William Shakespeare

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.
-- Lord Byron

Aromatic plants bestow No spicy fragrance while they grow, But crush'd or trodden to the ground, Diffuse their balmy sweets around.
-- Oliver Goldsmith

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.
-- Seneca

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity--another man's I mean.
-- Mark Twain

Constant success shows us but one side of the world, adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.
-- Charles Caleb Colton

diamonds shine more brightly foiled by black velvet.
-- Sai Baba

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

Great men rejoice in adversity just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
-- Seneca

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

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.
-- Socrates