Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Adversity
A man I am, cross’d with adversity.
Shakespeare.—Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV. Scene 1. (Valentine to the Outlaws.)
A wretched soul, bruis’d with adversity,
We bid be quiet when we hear it cry;
But were we burden’d with like weight of pain,
As much, or more, we should ourselves complain.
Shakespeare.—Comedy of Errors, Act II. Scene 1. (Adriana to Luciana.)
Sweet are the uses of adversity;
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
Shakespeare.—As You Like It, Act II. Scene 1. (The Duke to Amiens and other Lords.)
On every thorn delightful wisdom grows;
In every rill a sweet instruction flows.
Dr. Young.—Sat. I. Line 249.
Adversity’s sweet milk, philosophy.
Shakespeare.—Romeo and Juliet, Act III. Scene 3. (The Friar to Romeo.)
Love is maintain’d by wealth: when all is spent,
Adversity then breeds the discontent.
Herrick.—Hesperides, Aphorisms, No. 144.
The fire of my adversity has purged the mass of my acquaintance.
Bolingbroke.—To Swift, 17th March, 1719.