What does this quote mean?

“Courage cannot be cast down by adversity.”

Courage is defined by what survives difficulty: adversity may create pressure, but it does not have to decide the person’s response.

Source note: The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, saying 595, D. Lyman Jr. translation (1856).

“These are the times that try men's souls.”

Crisis reveals commitment because principles become costly to maintain precisely when fear, fatigue, and uncertainty make retreat easier.

Source note: Opening of The American Crisis No. I; Paine addresses perseverance during a difficult stage of the American Revolution.

“No right way is easy in this rough world.”

Difficulty does not automatically mean the chosen course is wrong; worthwhile action can require courage and persistence through genuinely hard conditions.

Source note: Stickeen; Muir says this while attempting a dangerous glacier crossing, tying the line to immediate physical risk rather than abstract motivational language.

“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer.”

The line acknowledges hardship directly before calling for courage, so cheer is not based on pretending that trouble does not exist.

Source note: John 16:33 in the King James Version; excerpt from Jesus’s closing words to the disciples.

“Yet I did hope for success, and persisted in the undertaking.”

Douglass links hope with continued effort: uncertainty about the outcome does not prevent him from persisting in a difficult undertaking.

Source note: My Bondage and My Freedom; Douglass is recounting one of the practical struggles through which persistence accompanied his pursuit of greater freedom and independence.

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”

Difficulty becomes part of learning rather than proof that progress is impossible; skill grows while the storm is being navigated.

Source note: Little Women; the represented public-domain text places the sailing metaphor inside the novel’s broader language of learning through difficulty.