A leaf that is destined to grow large is full of grooves and wrinkles at the start. Now if one has no patience and wants it smooth offhand like a willow leaf, there is trouble ahead.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe more »
Genuine morality is preserved only in the school of adversity; a state of continuous prosperity may easily prove a quick sand to virtue.
-- Johann Friedrich von Schiller more »
The greatest object in the universe, says a certain philosopher, is a good man struggling with adversity; yet there is still a greater, which is the good man who comes to relieve it.
-- Oliver Goldsmith more »