This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
True friendship is a slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
Adversity | Growth | Friendship |
Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
Adversity | Confidence | Growth | Friendship |
Josh Billings, pen name for Henry Wheeler Shaw, aka Uncle Esek
He whom prosperity humbles, and adversity strengthens, is the true hero.
Adversity | Hero | Prosperity |
Lou Holtz, fully Louis Leo "Lou" Holtz
Remember that adversity presents us with numerous possibilities for success, if we are just willing to see them.
Cicero, fully Marcus Tullius Cicero, anglicized as Tully NULL
Friendship makes prosperity more brilliant, and lightens adversity by dividing and sharing it.
Adversity | Prosperity |
Martin Seligman, Martin E. P. "Marty" Seligman
Emotions and actions do not usually follow adversity directly. Rather, they issue directly from your beliefs about adversity. This means that if you change your mental response to adversity, you can cope with setbacks much better.
Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
Of all the virtues we can learn no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.
Ability | Adversity | Challenge | Life | Life | Survival | Learn |
Plutarch, named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus after becoming Roman citizen NULL
Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.
Adversity | Balance | Prosperity |
Solomon, fully King Solomon, aka Jedidiah NULL
There is no wealth greater than the health of the body, there is no joy greater than the joy of the heart... A cheerful heart causes man's life to blossom, while the spirit of sadness dries the bones. Never rejoice at other people's misfortunes, for you cannot know when adversity may come to you.
Adversity | Body | Health | Heart | Joy | Life | Life | Man | People | Sadness | Spirit | Wealth |
Occasions of adversity best discover how great virtue or strength each one hath. For occasions do not make a man frail, but they show what he is.
Prosperity gets Followers, but Adversity distinguishes them.
Adversity | Prosperity |
Mankind apparently find it easier to drive away adversity than to retain prosperity.
Adversity | Mankind | Prosperity |
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.
Adversity | Mind | Prosperity |
Be more prompt to go to a friend in adversity than in prosperity.
Adversity | Friend | Prosperity |
One of the best ways to properly evaluate and adapt to the many environmental stresses of life is to simply view them as normal. The adversity and failures in our lives, if adapted to and viewed as normal corrective feedback to use to get back on target, serve to develop in us an immunity against anxiety, depression, and the adverse responses to stress. Instead of tackling the most important priorities that would make us successful and effective in life, we prefer the path of least resistance and do things simply that will relieve our tension, such as shuffling papers and majoring in minors.
Adversity | Anxiety | Anxiety | Depression | Important | Life | Life | Will |
In the day of prosperity we have many refuges to resort to; in the day of adversity only one.
Adversity | Day | Prosperity |