Richard Cecil Quotes

In struggling with misfortunes lies the true proof of virtue.

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.

Calamity is the test of integrity.

The test of our religion is whether it fits us to meet emergencies. A man has no more character than he can command in a time of crisis.

Repression does for a true man or a nation what fire does for gold.

For there is some virtue or other to be exercised, whatever happens.

The real worth of a person came from how he acted during the bad times. (John Fiske)

Gold don't come off. What's good stays good no matter how much of a beating it takes.

Courage is the most important virtue because it is the hardest.

You don't get character because you're successful; you build character because of the hardships you face.

Character is constructed amidst the tempests of the World

It's easy to enjoy your job and enjoy other people when things are going good. When you're faced with adversity is when the character of men is measured. There's a Mennonite proverb, 'Man, like a tree, is measured best when cut down.'

Fire proves gold, adversity proves men.

Affliction is the school in which great virtues are acquired, in which great characters are formed.

She just knew that even when you had nothing, you still had love.

Some of our most successful businessmen in US grew up in orphanages. They were well treated, and they learned discipline. They learned right or wrong, and they have wonderful careers.

When we talk about adversity, this is the moment when character really gets tested. When things aren't going the way you want and you can't see anyway that they're going to go the way you want. That's kind of when those old virtues really become valuable and vulnerable also.

The measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity - adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is.

I'd like to think that when I sing a song, I can let you know all about the heartbreak, struggle, lies and kicks in the ass I've gotten over the years for being black and everything else, without actually saying a word about it.

Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.

We're all products of our environment, and I suspect that strength of will - the feeling, "I'm going to be able to do whatever you put in front of me" - is honed in an environment where not everything is easy. Ironically, growing up in that environment, you don't have a sense of aggrievement or entitlement. You just have a sense of overcoming.

We would make our heroes shallow.... We would make them brittle. It is they who must remind us of the true meaning of strength.

Greatness is best measured by how well an individual responds to the happenings in life that appear to be totally unfair, unreasonable, and undeserved.

Adversity makes men remember God.

True character stands the test of emergencies. Do not be mistaken, it is weakness from which the awakening is rude.