Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.
As the rose-tree is composed of the sweetest flowers and the sharpest thorns, as the heavens are sometimes overcast – alternately tempestuous and serene – so is the life of man intermingled with hopes and fears, with joys and sorrows, with pleasure and pain.
Difficulty is a severe instructor, set over us by the supreme ordinance of a parental guardian and legislator, who knows us better than we know ourselves, as he loves us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.
The human mind is often, and I think it is for the most part, in a state neither of pain nor pleasure, which I call a state of indifference.