It is in the gift for employing all the vicissitudes of life to one's own advantage and to that of one's craft that a large part of genius consists.

He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity

The sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to catch up.

Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober; not to make us sorry but wise.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places.

Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist -- it reduces him to his fighting weight.

Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or by the handle.

The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them

If the going is real easy, beware, you may be headed down hill and don't know it.

A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.