Pride is founded not on the sense of happiness, but on the sense of power.
William HazlittRead
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Adversity teaches us more valuable lessons than prosperity, shaping our character and resilience.
William Hazlitt emphasizes that while prosperity can provide comfort and ease, it is through experiencing hardship and challenges that we truly learn and grow. Adversity not only develops our mental strength but also cultivates our understanding and appreciation of lifeβs lessons, making us wiser and more resilient in the face of future challenges.
Themes
ProsperityAdversityWisdomStrengthResilienceLearning
In practice
Example use cases
During a commencement speech to inspire graduates about the importance of resilience.
More from William Hazlitt
All quotes βThe world loves to be amused by hollow professions, to be deceived by flattering appearances, to live in a state of hallucination; and can forgive everything but the plain, downright, simple, honest truth.
William HazlittRead
Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain.
William HazlittRead
We can bear to be deprived of everything but our self-conceit.
William HazlittRead
There are few things in which we deceive ourselves more than in the esteem we profess to entertain for our firends. It is little better than a piece of quackery. The truth is, we think of them as we please, that is, as they please or displease us.
William HazlittRead
One is always more vexed at losing a game of any sort by a single hole or ace, than if one has never had a chance of winning it.
William HazlittRead
Similar quotes
For want of a naile the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the horse is lost, for want of a horse the rider is lost.
George HerbertRead
Needing leads to bleeding - to almost all inevitable suffering.
Albert EllisRead
And I will show that there is no imperfection in the present, and can be none in the future, And I will show that whatever happens to anybody it may be turned to beautiful results.
Walt WhitmanRead
Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.
Jim RohnRead
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
Money is congealed energy, and releasing it releases life's possibilities.
Joseph CampbellRead