There are natures which blossom and ripen amidst trials, which would only wither and decay in an atmosphere of ease and comfort.
Thus it is good for men to be roused into action and stiffened into self-reliance by difficulty, rather than to slumber away their lives in useless apathy and indolence.

[213] It is the struggle that is the condition of victory.

If there were no difficulties, there would be no need of efforts; if there were no temptations, there would be no training in self-control, and but little merit in virtue; if there were no trial and suffering, there would be no education in patience and resignation.

Thus difficulty, adversity, and suffering are not all evil, but often the best source of strength, discipline, and virtue.
For the same reason, it is often of advantage for a man to be under the necessity of having to struggle with poverty and conquer it.

"He who has battled," says Carlyle, "were it only with poverty and hard toil, will be found stronger and more expert than he who could stay at home from the battle, concealed among the provision waggons, or even rest unwatchfully 'abiding by the stuff.'" Scholars have found poverty tolerable compared with the privation of intellectual food.