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

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.

Anne Bradstreet (1612 - 1672), 'Meditations¹ Divine and Moral,' 1655

By courage I repel² adversity.

(Adversa Virtute Repello)

Anonymous³

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

Ben Jonson (1572 - 1637)

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

Chilo

Friendship make prosperity more shining and lessens⁴ adversity by dividing and sharing it.

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

Adversity is the touchstone of friendship.

French Proverb

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

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.

Henry Fielding (1707 - 1754)

In adversity remember to keep an even mind.

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.

J. K. Rowling, Harvard Commencement Address, 2008

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

John Churton Collins

Adversity does teach who your real friends are.

Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign, 1999

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

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

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

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

Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.

Og Mandino (1923 - 1996)

Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.

Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims⁶

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

Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

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

Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD), Epistles

Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue⁷ elation⁵ in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.

Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)

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

William Arthur Ward⁸

A man I am cross'd with adversity.

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

A wretched soul, bruised⁹ 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.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

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

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

Sweet are the uses of adversity,

Which like the toad¹⁰, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;

And this our life, exempt¹¹ from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks¹²,

Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

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.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)