Quotes about Adversity

He does not say: "There dare not be an evil rumor," but rather: "There will be evil rumors. The world will revile him and hold him to be a wicked scoundrel, a heretic, and a deceiver.

The world is a head of thistles; whichever way you turn it, it stretches the thorns about itself.

And the human mind endures misfortunes of any kind more easily than prosperity and abundance, as the German proverb puts it: "Strong legs are needed to be able to endure good days.

That is, as he says here, he should bend off neither to the right hand nor to the left, but move forward straight and firmly in prosperity and adversity, in strength and weakness, in glory and shame, clinging faithfully and bravely to the Word of God alone.

They turn the heart away much more strongly than adversity and want do, as he says in his song (Deut. 32:15): "Having become swollen, fat, and thick, he rebelled"; and (Prov. 1:32): "The prosperity of the foolish destroys them"; as is said also in the German proverb: "You need strong legs to hold up under good days." For man endures evil more easily than good, as the poet says: "Luxury has invaded as a deadlier foe."2

They turn the heart away much more strongly than adversity and want do, as he says in his song (Deut. 32:15): "Having become swollen, fat, and thick, he rebelled"; and (Prov. 1:32): "The prosperity of the foolish destroys them"; as is said also in the German proverb: "You need strong legs to hold up under good days." For man endures evil more easily than good, as the poet says: "Luxury has invaded as a deadlier foe."2

We should give heed to what has been said by the heathen poet: "Do not yield to evils but proceed more boldly against them."15

One must be careful to hold fast to the fact that God makes promises and defers the things promised, and that He tries us with a scarcity of available things in order to instruct us in faith in the promise and in order that this faith may be strengthened and may learn to believe God not only in prosperous times, when things are available, but also in adversity, when things are lacking.

One must be careful to hold fast to the fact that God makes promises and defers the things promised, and that He tries us with a scarcity of available things in order to instruct us in faith in the promise and in order that this faith may be strengthened and may learn to believe God not only in prosperous times, when things are available, but also in adversity, when things are lacking.

Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to.

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.