No doubt it is a simple line, but many are still asking what does the quote adversity introduces a man to himself mean?
As usual, this quote is also another victim of misattribution or incorrect attribution.
It is still attributed to Albert Einstein and Henry Louis Mencken.
“Adversity introduces a man to himself” – Anonymous
From my own findings, I have yet to find any authentic source which says this adversity quote is by both Albert Einstein, “The Father of Relativity” and H. L. Mencken known as the “Sage of Baltimore”.
Some credited this quote to H. L. Mencken, just because this line is found in the book “New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources“.
It is a 1942 dictionary of quotations selected and edited by Henry Louis Mencken.
The quote is found on page 17, and it clearly stated “Author unidentified“.
(New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources, Selected And Edited By H. L. Mencken, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962, Adversity, P. 17) source
The quotation “Adversity introduces a man to himself” is best credited to anonymous for the time being. Period.
Adversity Introduces A Man To Himself Mean
So, what does this popularly used adversity quote means?
Adversity means hardship, trouble, misfortune, tribulation or setback.
Introduce means to bring in, to present to, reveal or to bring forth.
The phrase “man to himself” means know the true self or know the person who you really are.
So the quote means when you encounter hardship, the difficult situation will reveal to you, who you really are.
In other words, when you have a setback or trouble, especially the major one, how you handle it, speaks a lot about yourself.
Be they, your character, aptitude, strengths and weaknesses.
In short, it will reflect what kind of person you truly are.
When your life is trouble free, you don’t really expose to your inner strength or weakness.
But when you encounter a stumbling block, then you have to face up to who you really are.
Now you will discover whether you have the capabilities to weather the storm of your life.
So this quote simply means, when life is saddled with problems, it will make a person realize who really he or she is.
In short, one’s true self.
It is usually during the difficult times, you come to know yourself deeper and better.
*Here is a full list of authentic adversity is a good thing wisdom quotes.