By my soul, I can neither eat, drink, nor sleep; nor, what's still worse, love any woman in the world but her.
Samuel RichardsonRead
Necessity may well be called the mother of invention but calamity is the test of integrity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Calamity tests our integrity and character more than necessity drives invention.
This quote suggests that while necessity can inspire creative solutions and innovation, it is the challenges and hardships we face that truly reveal our moral character and integrity. When confronted with adversity, our true values and strength are tested, indicating that integrity is often shaped by how we respond to difficult situations.
Themes
IntegrityCalamityInventionCharacterNecessityAdversity
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about overcoming challenges.
More from Samuel Richardson
All quotes βIf the education and studies of children were suited to their inclinations and capacities, many would be made useful members of society that otherwise would make no figure in it.
Samuel RichardsonRead
For the human mind is seldom at stay: If you do not grow better, you will most undoubtedly grow worse.
Samuel RichardsonRead
Similar quotes
The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.Read
You can be true to the character all you want but you've got to go home with yourself.
Julia RobertsRead
Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not... We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.
John Henry NewmanRead
I'm not particularly needy, and I'm not particularly anxious. I don't look for a director to tell me I'm doing a good job or that I'm great. I don't need to be stroked. It's more my own yardstick.
Cate BlanchettRead
I would give all of my fame for a pot of ale and safety.
William ShakespeareRead
The longer I live, the more I realize that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only wasted my time!
George Bernard ShawRead