“When prosperous the fool trembles for the evil that is to come; in adversity the philosopher smiles for the good that he has had.”

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

“It was a high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that “The good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished, but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.””

“When all the world is filled with evil, transform adversity into the path of enlightenment.”

“Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.”

“It was like wondering how evil had come into the world or what happens to a person after he dies: an interesting philosophical exercise, but also curiously pointless, since evil and death happened, regardless of the why and the how and what-it-meant.”

“He who has lived as a true philosopher has reason to be of good cheer when he is about to die, and that after death he may hope to receive the greatest good in the other world.”

“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.”

“Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.”

“It was a saying of his that education was an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.”