Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

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Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity
would not be so welcome.

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Anne Bradstreet (1612 - 1672), 'Meditations Divine and Moral,' 1655

By courage I repel adversity.

(Adversa Virtute Repello)

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Anonymous

He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity.

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Ben Jonson (1572 - 1637)

Be more prompt to go to a friend in adversity than in prosperity.

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Chilo

Friendship make prosperity more shining and lessens adversity by dividing and sharing it.

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Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), On Friendship, 44 B.C.

Adversity is the touchstone of friendship.

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French Proverb

Adversity is the trial of principle. Without it a man hardly knows whether he is honest or not.

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Henry Fielding (1707 - 1754)

He that can heroically endure adversity will bear prosperity with equal greatness of the soul; for the mind that
cannot be dejected by the former is not likely to be transported without the latter.
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Henry Fielding (1707 - 1754)

In adversity remember to keep an even mind.

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Horace (65 BC - 8 BC), Odes

You will never truly know yourself or the strength of your relationships until both have been tested by adversity.

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J. K. Rowling, Harvard Commencement Address, 2008

In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.

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John Churton Collins

Adversity does teach who your real friends are.

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Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign, 1999

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

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Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean.

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Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), Following the Equator (1897)

Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.

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Og Mandino (1923 - 1996)

Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.

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Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims

Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers
then.

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 Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.

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Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD), Epistles

Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue
depression in adversity.

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Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)

Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.

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William Arthur Ward

A man I am cross'd with adversity.

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William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV, sc.1

A wretched soul, bruised with adversity,

We bid be quiet when we hear it cry;

But were we burdened with like weight of pain,

As much or more we should ourselves complain.

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William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course.

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William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Henry VI, Part III, Act III, sc. 1

Sweet are the uses of adversity,

Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

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William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), As You Like It, Act II, sc.1

Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like a toad, though ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its
head.

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William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)