“Prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.”
Francis Bacon book Essays
Of Adversity
Essays (1625)
“The virtue of prosperity, is temperance; the virtue of adversity, is fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical virtue.”
— Francis Bacon, book Essays
Of Adversity
Essays (1625)
Context: The virtue of prosperity, is temperance; the virtue of adversity, is fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New; which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's favor. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job, than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.
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Francis Bacon295
English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and auth… 1561–1626Related quotes
“There is no treasure equal to contentment and no virtue equal to fortitude.”
Sarada Devi (1853–1920) Hindu religious figure, spiritual consort of Ramakrishna
[Holy Mother, Prabuddha Bharatha, 92, Advaita Ashrama, 1969]
“Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.”
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist
1790s, Letter to the Addressers (1792)
Context: A thing, moderately good, is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice.
“Some virtues are only seen in affliction and some in prosperity.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright
No. 257 (25 December 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“By virtue of exchange, one man's prosperity is beneficial to all others.”
Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly
Economic harmonies, par. 4.110.
Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician
Speech to the National Convention, (5 February 1794), as quoted in The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917-1923, Vol. 1 (1951) by Edward Hallett Carr, p. 154 <br class="br">Variant translations: <br class="br">The attribute of popular government in a revolution is at one and the same time virtue and terror. Terror without virtue is fatal; virtue without terror is impotent. The terror is nothing but justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is thus an emanation of virtue. <br class="br">As quoted in Red Star Over Southern Africa (1988) by Morgan Norval, p. xvi <br class="br">If the mainspring of popular government in peace time is virtue, its resource during a revolution is at one and the same time virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror is merely terrible; terror, without which virtue is simply powerless. <br class="br">As quoted in Rousseau, Robespierre and English Romanticism (1999) by Gregory Dart <br class="br">Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is therefore an emanation of virtue; it is not so much a special principle as it is a consequence of the general principle of democracy applied to our country's most urgent needs. <br class="br">Original French: La terreur n'est autre chose que la justice prompte, sévère, inflexible; elle est donc une émanation de la vertu ; elle est moins un principe particulier, qu’une conséquence du principe général de la démocratie, appliqué aux plus pressants besoins de la patrie. <br class="br">From Sur les principes de morale politique http://www.royet.org/nea1789-1794/archives/discours/robespierre_principes_morale_politique_05_02_94.htm