There is an ambush everywhere from the army of accidents; therefore the rider of life runs with loosened reins.
—Hafez (1325–89) Persian Poet, Mystic
Most of our misfortunes are more supportable than the comments of our friends upon them.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Of fortune’s sharp adversity, the worst kind of misfortune is this, that a man hath been in prosperity and it remembers when it passed is.
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) English Poet, Philosopher, Diplomat, Bureaucrat
The injuries of life, if rightly improved, will be to us as the strokes of the statuary on his marble, forming us to a more beautiful shape, and making us fitter to adorn the heavenly temple.
—Cotton Mather (1662–1728) American Clergyman
The greatest misfortune of all is not to be able to bear misfortune.
—Bias of Priene (fl. 6th century BCE) Greek Orator
When I was happy I thought I knew men, but it was fated that I should know them only in misfortune.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Who hath not known ill-fortune, never knew himself, or his own virtue.
—David Mallet (c.1705–1765) Scottish Poet, Dramatist
Men shut their doors against the setting sun.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Depend upon it, that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him: for where there is nothing but pure misery, there never is any mention of it.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
No accidents are so unlucky but that the wise may draw some advantage from them; nor are there any so lucky but that the foolish may turn them to their own prejudice.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
A calamity that affects everyone is only half a calamity.
—Italian Proverb
Rats and conquerors must expect no mercy in misfortune.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
If a great man struggling with misfortunes is a noble object, a little man that despises them is no contemptible one.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
We can profit only by our own misfortunes and those of others. The former, though they may be the more beneficial, are also the more painful; let us turn, then, to the latter.
—Polybius (c.200–c.118 BCE) Greek Historian
He that is down needs fear no fall.
—John Bunyan (1628–88) English Puritan Writer, Preacher
There is a chill air surrounding those who are down in the world, and people are glad to get away from them, as from a cold room.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Misfortune makes of certain souls a vast desert through which rings the voice of God.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
If fortune turns against you, even jelly breaks your tooth.
—Persian Proverb
We feel a kind of bittersweet pricking of malicious delight in contemplating the misfortunes of others.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
When any calamity has been suffered, the first thing to be remembered is how much has been escaped.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above it.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
The humor of turning every misfortune into a judgment, proceeds from wrong notions of religion, which, in its own nature, produces good will toward men, and puts the mildest construction upon every accident that befalls them. In this case, therefore, it is not religion that sours a man’s temper, but it is his temper that sours his religion.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
A sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier times.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
A soul exasperated by its ills falls out with everything, with its friends and also with itself.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
Misfortune is never mournful to the soul that accepts it; for such do always see that every cloud is an angel’s face. Every man deems that he has precisely the trials and temptations which are the hardest of all others for him to bear; but they are so, simply because they are the very ones he most needs.
—Lydia Maria Child (1802–80) American Abolitionist, Writer
There is no misfortune, but to bear it nobly is good fortune.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
If all the misfortunes of mankind were cast into a public stock, in order to be equally distributed among the whole species, those who now think themselves the most unhappy would prefer the share they are already possessed of before that which would fall to them by such a division.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
By struggling with misfortunes, we are sure to receive some wounds in the conflict; but a sure method to come off victorious is by running away.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist