Success Quote by Peter Nivio Zarlenga

Character, in Zarlenga's formulation, isn't a résumé item; it's a stress test. "The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune" borrows the cadence of older moral maxims, but it lands squarely in a modern, business-minded worldview where outcomes swing, markets turn, plans fail, and you don't get to control the weather. The phrasing is intentionally spare: not "whether" you face misfortune, but how you carry it. The verb choice, "bears up", matters. It's not heroic conquest, it's load-bearing. Endurance as a posture.

The intent is motivational, but not soft. It smuggles in a set of expectations about masculinity and dignity: "a man" as someone whose worth is legible under pressure, someone whose interior life should remain disciplined and outwardly composed. That subtext can be read as inspiring or coercive, depending on who's invoking it. In a boardroom, it quietly rewards stoicism and punishes visible struggle. In a personal context, it can be a humane reminder that failure isn't the final verdict; your response is.

Its power comes from shifting the metric of value away from luck and toward conduct. Misfortune, unlike success, is democratizing; everyone gets a turn. By anchoring "measure" there, Zarlenga reframes adversity as the only truly comparable arena, where excuses thin out and temperament becomes evidence.

Contextually, it echoes a long American strain of resilience ethics - part Protestant work ethic, part self-help, part executive leadership mantra. It also invites a question the quote leaves unanswered: who gets the privilege to "bear up", and who is crushed by misfortune that isn't evenly distributed.