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Adversity: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

* * * and now expecting Each hour their great adventurer, from the search Of foreign worlds.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. X. L. 439.

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 the experience which is deem'd so weighty.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto XII. St. 50.

Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.— CARLYLE — Heroes and Hero Worship.

Lecture V. Aromatic plants bestow No spicy fragrance while they grow; But crush'd or trodden to the ground, Diffuse their balmy sweets around.— GOLDSMITH — The Captivity. Act I.

Thou tamer of the human breast, Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour The bad affright, afflict the best!— GRAY — Hymn to Adversity. St. 1.

In the adversity of our best friends we often find something which does not displease us. S.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maxim 245.

The Good are better made by Ill, As odours crushed are sweeter still.— SAM'L ROGERS — Jacqueline. St. 3.

A wretched soul, bruis'd with adversity, We bid be quiet when we hear it cry; But were we burthen'd with like weight of pain, As much, or more, we should ourselves complain. U.— Shakespeare — Comedy of Errors. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 34.

Bold adversity Cries out for noble York and Somerset, To beat assailing death from his weak legions. And whiles the honourable captain there Drops bloody sweat from his war-wearied limbs.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. I. Act IV. Sc. 4. L. 14.

His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him; For then, and not till then, he felt himself, And found the blessedness of being little.— Shakespeare — Henry VIII. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 64.

Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.— Shakespeare — As You Like It. Act II. Sc. I. L. 12.

Then know, that I have little wealth to lose; A man I am cross'd with adversity.— Shakespeare — Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act IV. 0. Sc. 1. L. 11.

Non omnia possumus omnes. We cannot all do all things.— VIRGIL — Eclogæ. VIII. 63.

Æquam memento rebus in arduis Servare mentem. Remember to be calm in adversity.— HORACE — Carmina. II. 3. 1.

Adversæ res admonent religionum. Adversity reminds men of religion.— LIVY — Annales. V. 51.

m.. Gaudent magni viri rebus adversis non aliter, quam fortes milites bellis. Great men rejoice in adversity just as brave soldiers triumph in war.— SENECA — De Providentia. IV.

Adversis etenim frangi non esse virorum. Brave men ought not to be cast down by adversity.— SILIUS ITALICUS — Punica. X. 618.

Magnum, atque in magnis positum populisque virisque adversam ostentare fidem. It is noble and so regarded both among nations and individuals to keep faith in adversity.— SILIUS ITALICUS — Punica. XI. 163.