The good man is neither uplifted by the good things of time,
nor broken by its ills; but the wicked man, because he is
corrupted by this world's happiness, feels himself punished
by it's unhappiness.
For as the same fire causes gold to glow brightly, and chaff to
smoke; so the same violence of affliction proves, purges, clarifies
the good, but damns, ruins, exterminates the wicked. And thus it
is that in the same affliction the wicked detest God and blasheme,
while the good pray and
praise.
So material a difference does it make,
not what ills are suffered, but what kind of man suffers them. For,
stirred up with the same movement, mud exhales a horrible stench, and
ointment emits a fragrant odor.
Augustine
Fourth century theologian
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