Fire tests gold, suffering tests brave men.

I am bigger than anything that can happen to me. All these things, sorrow, misfortune, and suffering, are outside my door. I am in the house and I have the key.

Affliction equips the suffering to empathize with others in anguish and not only does it strengthen them, it enables them to be consoling comforters in a world full of hurt.

She was a genius of sadness, immersing herself in it, separating its numerous strands, appreciating its subtle nuances. She was a prism through which sadness could be divided into its infinite spectrum.

There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortune

There in no one more unfortunate than the man who has never been unfortunate. for it has never been in his power to try himself. [Lat., Nihil infelicius eo, cui nihil unquam evenit adversi, non licuit enim illi se experiri.]