حين تهمّ السماءُ بأن تُنيط بإنسانٍ أمراً عظيماً، فإنها تبتليه أولاً بالمعاناة في ذهنه، وبالكدّ في عضلاته وعظامه، وتُعرّض جسده للجوع، وتُلقي به في فقرٍ مدقع، وتُربك مساعيه. بكل هذه الوسائل تُحفّز عقله، وتُصلّب طبعه، وتسدّ ما فيه من نقص.

“When Heaven is about to confer a great office on a man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil ; it exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty ; it confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.”Mencius — The Chinese Classics (1861)