Adversity - Quotes

Abused prosperity is oftentimes made the very means of our greatest adversity. - Daniel Defoe

Adversity borrows its sharpest sting from impatience. - Bishop Horne

Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records. - William Arthur Ward

Adversity does teach who your real friends are. - Lois Mcmaster Bujold

Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, then, especially, being free from flatterers. - Samuel Johnson

Adversity has made many a man great who, had he remained prosperous, would only have been rich. - Maurice Switzer

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

Adversity is a good test of our resiliency, our ability to cope, to stand back up, to recover from misfortune. Adversity is a painful pedagogue. - Charles R. Swindoll

Adversity is a severe instructor, set over us by one who knows us better than we do ourselves. - Edmund Burke

Adversity is a soul sister to success. And on the journey to greatness, our willingness to befriend these twin sisters, and know them as one, will have much to do with our greatness. - Noah Benshea

Adversity introduces a man to himself. - Thomas Fuller

Adversity is easier borne than prosperity forgot. -  Unknown

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 like the period of the former and of the latter rain – cold, comfortless, unfriendly to man and to animal; yet from that season have their birth, the flower, and the fruit, the date, the rose, and the pomegranate. - Sir Walter Scott

Adversity is never the end point; for those faced with a positive attitude, it's always the beginning. - J. Barry Griswell & Bob Jennings 

Adversity is not a curse, for it is often, if not always, necessary to our welfare and happiness. It is like medicine to the sick, which if it be unpalatable is still salutary. - T. J. Sawyer

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

Adversity is the first path to truth. - Lord Bryon

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

Adversity is the true school of the mind. - Katharine Lee Bates

Adversity is wont to reveal genius, prosperity to hide it. - Horace

Adversity makes men; good fortune makes monsters. - French Proverb

Adversity makes strange bedfellows. - William Shakespeare

Adversity often hatches out the true nobility of character. - George Ade

Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it. - Horatius

Adversity shows whether we have friends, or only the shadows of friends. - Publilius Syrus

Adversity will surface in every life. How we meet it makes the difference. - Marvin J. Ashton 

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you. - Walt Disney

All have their miseries. He is not truly a man who has not experienced adversity. - Edward Counsel 

Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity. - Og Mandino

Even the severed branch grows again, and the sunken moon returns: wise men who ponder this are not troubled in adversity. - Bhartrhari

Every adversity carries with it the seed of equal or greater benefit. - Napoleon Hill 

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

For some adversity comes into our life like an ever-changing kaleidoscope and changes the pattern we laid out for our life. Some others are born into adversity and must learn survival tactics. When adversity is conquered, the skills learned, in the doing, are the golden treasures of life's experience. - Barbara B. Bergstrom

Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Gratitude in adversity is the most beautiful and precious crown of the soul. - Ludovicus Blosius 

Harnessing adversity is a discipline tailored to a world of unpredictable outcomes – a world where one can disturb, but not wholly direct, a living system. Because the unexpected – adversity – is guaranteed, this discipline is about routinely making lemons into lemon meringue pie. - Richard T. Pascale

He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity. - Ben Johnson

He that can heroically endure adversity will bear prosperity with equal greatness of soul; for the mind that cannot be dejected by the former is not likely to be transported with the later. - Henry Fielding

If you can’t live through adversity, you’ll never be good at what you do. You have to live through the unfair things, and you have to develop the hide to not let it bother you and keep your eyes focused on what you have to do. - Maurice

In any adversity that happens to us in the world, we ought to consider that misery and affliction are not less natural than snow and hail, storm and tempest: And it were as reasonable to hope for a year without winter, as for a life without trouble. - Wellins Calcott

In estimating the adversities of life, we would seldom have much reason to complain of the evils we suffer, did we understand the dangers we daily escape. - Norman MacDonald

In every kind of adversity, the bitterest part of a man’s affliction is to remember that he once was happy. - Boethius

In every adversity there lies the seed of an equivalent advantage. In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time. - Robert Collier

In the adversity of our best friends we always find something which is not wholly displeasing to us. - Duc de La Rochefoucauld

In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plough your anger and your energy into something positive. - Lee Iacocca

It is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last, words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains. - Lucretius 

It is your reaction to adversity and not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop. - Unknown

Keen adversity is the best crucible in which to try a man’s integrity. - William Scott Downey

Let not adversity oppress thee: be rather like unto the nail; the farther ‘tis hammered, the firmer it holds. - Ivan Panin

Life is truly known only to those who suffer, lose, endure adversity, and stumble from defeat to defeat. - Ryszard Kapuscinski

No adversity is in kind or degree peculiar to us; but if we survey the conditions of other men (of our brethren everywhere, of our neighbours all about us), and compare our case with theirs, we shall find that we have many consorts and associates in adversity, most as ill, many far worse bestead than ourselves; whence it must be a great fondness and perverseness to be displeased that we are not exempted from, but exposed to bear a share in the common troubles and burdens of mankind. - Isaac Barrow

Nothing is more patent than that the discipline of adversity is by far the most gracious and elevating influence affecting human character. - Unknown

Prosperity gathers smiles, while adversity scatters them. - William Scott Downey

Prosperity is apt to prevent us from examining our conduct; but adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is beneficial to us. - Bruce Lee

Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends. - Plutarch

Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. - Francis Bacon 

Prosperity often presages adversity. - Hosea Ballou 

Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful. - Zig Ziglar

Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well, when they cannot be discerned from the top of a mountain. So are many things learned in adversity which the prosperous man dreams not of. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon 

Sweet are the uses of adversity, which like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head. - William Shakespeare

The conquering of adversity produces strength of character, forges self-confidence, engenders self-respect, and assures success in righteous endeavour. - Richard G. Scott

The day of adversity is one from which none are absolutely secure. Some, indeed, bring adversity on themselves by their own folly; but the wise as well as the foolish are liable to it, and all should be prepared for it. - Unknown 

The dictionary says that adversity is a condition marked by misfortune, a calamity, or an unfortunate event or circumstance. I say that adversity comes in all shapes and sizes, from life-threatening illnesses, to losing a sale, to failing in business, to rocky relationships. Adversity can be many things according to just when it hits you and under what conditions. Whatever it may be for you, if you have suffered setbacks, hardships, or failures, know that you are not alone. Very few things are true all of the time in all situations, but this is a universal truth: Plans do not become achievements, dreams do not become realities, and ideas do not come to fruition without setbacks, hardships, and failures. - Barry J. Farber

The fire of adversity will melt you like butter, or temper you like steel. The choice is yours. - Unknown

The shade of faith and the cloak of true godliness is the best equipage for the storm of adversity. - William Scott Downey 

The trials and pressures of life –  and how we face them –often define us. Confronted by adversity, many people give up while others rise up. How do those who succeed do it? They persevere. They find the benefit to them personally that comes from any trial. And they recognize that the best thing about adversity is coming out on the other side of it. There is a sweetness to overcoming your troubles and finding something good in the process, however small it may be. Giving up when adversity threatens can make a person bitter. Persevering through adversity makes one better. - John C. Maxwell

The truth is that adversity is a part of most days. Whether you are ultimately weakened or strengthened by each event, or the accumulation of events, will depend on you first mastering the ability to Take It On! - Erik Weihenmayer

The worse our state of wretchedness, the more we are open to receive the blessings of happiness. Adversity is the only tutor of contentment. No man, unless his mouth has been embittered with gall, can taste the true savour of honey. - Anthony Lisle

There is in every true woman’s heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. - Washington Irving

There is in every true woman’s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. - Washington Irving

There is no education like adversity. - Benjamin Disraeli

There is not unmitigated ill in the sharpest of this world's sorrows; I touch not the sore of thy guilt; but of human griefs I counsel thee, Cast off the weakness of regret, and gird thee to redeem thy loss: Thou has gained, in the furnace of affliction, self-knowledge, patience and humility, And these be as precious ore, that waiteth the skill of the coiner: Despise not the blessings of adversity, nor the gain thou hast earned so hardly, And now thou hast drained the bitter, take heed that thou lose not the sweet. - Martin Farquhar Tupper

Those who choose to make adversity their friend doesn’t enjoy hardship any more than the next person. But there is a world of difference between those who befriend adversity by overcoming it and learning from the experience, and those who give up at the first sign of an obstacle … Adversity is going to happen, and usually in ways you could’ve never foreseen. Knowing this, make a choice right now to look at adversity in a new light the next time it comes your way. Though it may not look so friendly on the surface, realize that adversity is an ally and that it’s here to teach you something of crucial importance. Of course, it’s an unwelcome visitor. But when it presents itself, treat the experience as a unique learning opportunity. Here is your chance to impact positively your human capital development in ways that no seminar, class, or training session can even closely approximate. - J. Barry Griswell & Bob Jennings 

To stand alone against all adversity is the most sacred moment of existence. - Frank Herbert

We fail to see the purifying and refining effect wrought by the flames of adversity. These flames are not meant to consume but only to purify us. Disguised as adversity, blessings are showered upon us. - Theodore Tuttle

With every adversity comes a blessing because a shock acts as a reminder to oneself that we must not get stale in routine. - Bruce Lee

Without adversity a person hardly knows whether they are honest or not. - Henry Fielding