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).

“In life and death a chainless soul, With courage to endure.”

The closing wish joins freedom with endurance, defining courage not as control over events but as keeping the soul unchained through them.

Source note: “The Old Stoic,” Project Gutenberg #1019. This is the poem’s closing aspiration and remains a literary statement rather than medical or psychological guidance.

“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.

“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.

“Sweet are the uses of adversity.”

Adversity is presented as capable of yielding insight or value even when the experience itself is unwelcome.

Source note: As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 1; Duke Senior reflects on what adversity can reveal while living in exile.

“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.