Deliberate with caution, but act with decision; and yield with graciousness, or oppose with firmness.—­Colton.

When our souls shall leave this dwelling, the glory of one fair and virtuous action is above all the scutcheons on our tomb, or silken banners over us.—­J.  Shirley.

Our acts make or mar us,—­we are the children of our own deeds.  —­Victor Hugo.

Man, being essentially active, must find in activity his joy, as well as his beauty and glory; and labor, like everything else that is good, is its own reward.—­Whipple.

Adversity.—­Times of great calamity and confusion have ever been productive of the greatest minds.  The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storm.—­Colton.

In the day of prosperity we have many refuges to resort to; in the day of adversity only one.—­Horatius Bonar.

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.—­Washington Irving.

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.

Heaven is not always angry when he strikes,
But most chastises those whom most he likes. 
—­Pomfret.

The fire of my adversity has purged the mass of my acquaintance. 
—­Bolingbroke.

On every thorn delightful wisdom grows;
In every rill a sweet instruction flows. 
—­Dr. Young.

            When Providence, for secret ends,

Corroding cares, or sharp affliction, sends;
We must conclude it best it should be so,
And not desponding or impatient grow. 

          
                          —­Pomfret.

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.  —­Proverbs 24:10.

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant.—­Horace.

In this wild world the fondest and the best
Are the most tried, most troubled and distress’d. 
—­Crabbe.

The lessons of adversity are often the most benignant when they seem the most severe.  The depression of vanity sometimes ennobles the feeling.  The mind which does not wholly sink under misfortune rises above it more lofty than before, and is strengthened by affliction.  —­CHENEVIX.

There is healing in the bitter cup.—­Southey.

Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity is the blessing of the New, which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God’s favor.—­Bacon.

In all cases of heart-ache, the application of another man’s disappointment draws out the pain and allays the irritation.—­Lytton.