"Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater"
About this Quote
Prosperity expands the field of vision. It supplies resources, leisure, and confidence, letting people test ideas and cultivate skills without the drag of fear. Success can model what is possible and reward good judgment. Yet comfort carries a narcotic: it flatters the ego, hides weak joints under velvet, and tempts us to mistake luck for merit. The lesson of ease is often how to keep what one has.
Adversity cuts closer to the bone. Loss, failure, or exclusion removes disguises and shows what is necessary rather than merely desirable. It reveals character under pressure, clarifies priorities, and exposes illusions about control. Where prosperity can be generous, hardship demands humility; where comfort smooths edges, difficulty sharpens attention. The mind learns quickly when mistakes have costs, and the heart widens when it feels its own vulnerability. Compassion, resilience, patience, and courage are forged more reliably by tests than by trophies.
The aphorism fits William Hazlitts temper and time. An English essayist of the Romantic era, he distrusted self-flattery and wrote with a sharp eye for the mixed motives behind polite veneers. Living through political upheavals and personal reversals, including financial strain and public hostility, he mined experience for truths about human nature. His compressed style, indebted to moralists like La Rochefoucauld, favors such balanced antitheses: prosperity teaches; adversity teaches more.
There is no romance in pain, and Hazlitt is not prescribing hardship as a virtue in itself. Affliction can embitter or break as well as educate. The point is comparative: when life stops cushioning us, the feedback is immediate and indelible. We discover limits and latent strengths, discern who stands with us, and learn to separate necessities from ornaments. Prosperity teaches the art of using abundance; adversity teaches the art of living. The best education, perhaps, combines both: success to encourage, difficulty to deepen, and memory enough to be grateful for either.
Adversity cuts closer to the bone. Loss, failure, or exclusion removes disguises and shows what is necessary rather than merely desirable. It reveals character under pressure, clarifies priorities, and exposes illusions about control. Where prosperity can be generous, hardship demands humility; where comfort smooths edges, difficulty sharpens attention. The mind learns quickly when mistakes have costs, and the heart widens when it feels its own vulnerability. Compassion, resilience, patience, and courage are forged more reliably by tests than by trophies.
The aphorism fits William Hazlitts temper and time. An English essayist of the Romantic era, he distrusted self-flattery and wrote with a sharp eye for the mixed motives behind polite veneers. Living through political upheavals and personal reversals, including financial strain and public hostility, he mined experience for truths about human nature. His compressed style, indebted to moralists like La Rochefoucauld, favors such balanced antitheses: prosperity teaches; adversity teaches more.
There is no romance in pain, and Hazlitt is not prescribing hardship as a virtue in itself. Affliction can embitter or break as well as educate. The point is comparative: when life stops cushioning us, the feedback is immediate and indelible. We discover limits and latent strengths, discern who stands with us, and learn to separate necessities from ornaments. Prosperity teaches the art of using abundance; adversity teaches the art of living. The best education, perhaps, combines both: success to encourage, difficulty to deepen, and memory enough to be grateful for either.
Quote Details
| Topic | Resilience |
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