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Misfortune: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

Calamity is man's true touch-stone. X.— BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER-- — Four Plays

in One. The Triumph of Honour. Sc. 1. L. 67. For of Fortune's sharpe adversite, The worste kynde of infortune is this, A man to hav bent in prosperite, And it remembren whan it passed is.— CHAUCER — Canterbury Tales. Troylus and Crysseyde. Bk. III. L. 1,625.

He went like one that hath been stunn'd, And is of sense forlorn : A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn.— COLERIDGE — Ancient Mariner. Pt. VII.

Last stanza. Most of our misfortunes are more supportable than the comments of our friends upon them.— C. C. COLTON — Lacon. P. 238.

I was a stricken deer that left the herd Long since. C.— COWPER — The Task. Bk. III. L. 108.

Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen, Fallen from his high estate, And welt'ring in his blood; Deserted at his utmost need, By those his former bounty fed; On the bare earth expos'd he lies, With not a friend to close his eyes.— DRYDEN — Alexander's Feast. L. 77.

But strong of limb And swift of foot misfortune is, and, far Outstripping all, comes first to every land, And there wreaks evil on mankind, which prayers Do afterwards redress.— HOMER — Iliad. Bk. IX. L. 625.

Bryant's trans. One more unfortunate Weary of breath, Rashly importunate, Gone to her death.— HOOD — Bridge of Sighs.

Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.— LOWELL — Democracy and Addresses.

Democracy. Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck'd.— MILTON — Paradise Regained. Bk. II. L. 228.

I never knew any man in my life, who could not bear another's misfortunes perfectly like a Christian.— POPE — See SWIFT'S Thoughts on

Various Subjects. Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed.— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. IV. L. 149.

As if Misfortune made the Throne her Seat, And none could be unhappy but the Great.— NICHOLAS ROWE — The Fair Penitent. Prologue. L. 3.

O, give me thy hand, One writ with me in sour misfortune's book.— Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 81.

Levis est consolatio ex miseriâ aliorum. The comfort derived from the misery of others is slight.— CICERO — Epistolæ. VI. 3.

Medio de fonte leporum Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis floribus angat. Full from the fount of joy's delicious springs Some bitter o'er the flowers its bubbling venom flings.— LUCRETIUS — De Rerum Natura. IV.

1,129. Byron's trans. in Childe Harold. I. 82. Quicumque amisit dignitatem pristinam Ignavis etiam jocus est in casu gravi. Whoever has fallen from his former high estate is in his calamity the scorn even of the base.— PHEDRUS — Fabulæ. I. 21. 1.

Calamitas virtutis occasio est. Calamity is virtue's opportunity.— SENECA — De Providentia. IV.

Ignis aurum probat, misera fortes viros. Fire tries gold, misery tries brave men.— SENECA — De Providentia. V.

Nihil infelicius eo, cui nihil unquam evenit adversi, non licuit enim illi se experiri. There is no one more unfortunate than the man who has never been unfortunate, for it has never been in his power to try himself.— SENECA — De Providentia. III.

Nil est nec miserius nec stultius quam prætimere. Quæ ista dementia est, malum suum antecedere! There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness it is in your expecting evil before it arrives!— SENECA — Epistolæ Ad Lucilium.