Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater.

The great essayist William Hazlitt once declared, “Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater.” In these few words lies a truth as old as humanity itself — that comfort can educate, but hardship transforms. Prosperity teaches through gentleness, allowing us to rest, to reflect, and to enjoy the fruits of labor. But adversity, though fierce and unrelenting, forges the soul in the fires of struggle. It teaches not through ease, but through endurance; not through praise, but through pain. The wise have always known: the brightest light is not born in the calm of noon, but in the storms of midnight.

In prosperity, a person learns gratitude, generosity, and the art of stewardship. It reveals the measure of one’s humility — whether one will use fortune as a blessing or as a mirror for vanity. It is indeed a great teacher, for it gives the student time to ponder, to build, to share. Yet prosperity can be a deceiver too. It whispers to the heart, “You are safe, you are finished, you are enough.” It can lull the spirit into stillness, softening the will and dulling the edge of discipline. That is why Hazlitt warns us — prosperity is not the greatest teacher. Its lessons are soft, its trials gentle. It strengthens only those who remember that fortune, like the tide, rises and falls beyond human command.

But adversity, ah, that is a teacher forged from the hand of destiny itself. It comes without invitation, cloaked in loss, failure, or pain. Yet in its harsh embrace, the soul awakens. Where prosperity builds comfort, adversity builds character. Where comfort feeds the body, hardship nourishes the spirit. It strips away illusion, revealing the raw truth of what one truly is. The ancient Greeks understood this deeply; their heroes did not earn glory through ease, but through trial. Odysseus, tossed across the endless sea, learned patience and cunning through his suffering. Had he sailed a calm voyage home, he would have remained merely a warrior; through adversity, he became wise.

Consider also the life of Helen Keller, who from childhood lived in darkness and silence. Deprived of the senses that most call essential, she learned to perceive the world through touch, thought, and perseverance. Her adversity became her greatest instructor. In her own words, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.” Her triumph was not born from prosperity but from the crucible of struggle. The world remembers her not because she was spared pain, but because she conquered it. In her life, we see Hazlitt’s truth — that adversity is not the end of learning, but its highest form.

The ancients taught that the gods send hardship not as punishment, but as refinement. Just as the blacksmith hammers the sword to strengthen it, so does life hammer the soul to make it unbreakable. Those who endure adversity gain not only knowledge but wisdom — a deeper understanding of the self and of the fragile, sacred nature of existence. Prosperity teaches comfort; adversity teaches courage. Prosperity offers rest; adversity demands rebirth. And only through that rebirth does one achieve greatness of spirit.

This is not to scorn prosperity, for it, too, is a blessing. It allows us to heal, to rebuild, to enjoy the sweetness of life. But the wise do not grow complacent in it. They remain vigilant, knowing that fortune’s wheel turns ceaselessly. The man who has faced adversity and learned its lessons carries within him an inner fortress, a calm unshaken by the storms of fate. He is prepared — for he has already met the worst that life can offer, and emerged stronger.

So, my listener, take heed: do not curse your adversities nor boast of your prosperity. Embrace both as teachers in the grand school of life. When times are good, practice gratitude and humility. When times are dark, practice courage and faith. Ask not for an easy path, but for a heart strong enough to walk the hard one. And when you look back upon your journey, you will see that your greatest wisdom did not come from victory or comfort, but from struggle — for that is where the soul is tempered and made divine.

Thus, remember the words of Hazlitt as a torch for your days: Prosperity may shape your habits, but adversity shapes your soul. Seek not a life free from hardship, but a spirit free from fear. For only when we have faced the fire and risen from it can we truly say — we have lived, we have learned, and we have become greater.