Men who suffer not,
attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardeners is that one which,
when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most
abundant fruit.
The labourer cuts up
the earth with his plough, and from that earth comes the rich and plentiful
harvest. The more a man is chastened, the greater is the harvest of spiritual
virtues shown forth by him. A soldier is no good General until he has been in
the front of the fiercest battle and has received the deepest wounds.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a talk, October 27, 1911, Paris; ‘Paris Talks’)
