A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.
Joseph Addison

A few years' experience will convince us that those things which at the time they happened we regarded as our greatest misfortunes have proved our greatest blessings.
George Mason

All men's misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone.
Jean de la Bruyere

All of my misfortunes come from having thought too well of my fellows.
Jean Jacques Rousseau

All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.
Moliere

Any beast can cry over the misfortunes of its own child. It takes a mensch to weep for others' children.
Sam Levenson

Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.
Aesop

Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others.
Ambrose Bierce

Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter.
Francis Bacon

Depend upon it that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him; for where there is nothing but pure misery there never is any recourse to the mention of it.
Samuel Johnson

Do not yield to misfortunes, but advance more boldly to meet them, as your fortune permits you.
Virgil

Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequence than to have a really affectionate mother.
W. Somerset Maugham

For a tear is quickly dried, especially when shed for the misfortunes of others.
Marcus Tullius Cicero

France cannot be destroyed. She is an old country who, despite her misfortunes, has, and always will have, thanks to her past, a tremendous prestige in the world, whatever the fate inflicted upon her.
Pierre Laval

Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?
Thomas Jefferson

Happiness is composed of misfortunes avoided.
Alphonse Karr

History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
Edward Gibbon

History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
Edward Gibbon

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.
Voltaire

How sweet for those faring badly to forget their misfortunes even for a short time.
Sophocles