In what a kind of uncertainty do we live, when a man rises from his bed in the morning, to be uncertain of his return to rest again: or when he lies down to sleep, whether ever he shall rise. Well do the spaniards in their language call man a shadow, for in truth he is no more, his body being so frail and brittle, and exposed to so many dangers, that nothing is more to be admired, than that it should usually subsist so long.
As gold is purified in the furnace, so is the life of a good man purged by adversity…and as adversity and misfortunes have been to some men a means of their promotion, so has prosperity been to others an occasion of their misery.
Cardan, Three Books of Consolation