Anyone can deal with victory. Only the mighty can bear defeat.

The saying contrasts the ease of enjoying success with the rarer strength required to endure loss without collapsing, lashing out, or abandoning one’s aims. It frames defeat as a test of character: resilience, self-command, and the ability to learn and persist. As a piece of rhetoric, it also flatters the listener by implying that accepting setbacks is a mark of “might,” thereby encouraging stoicism and continued struggle. Detached from any specific provenance, it functions as a general maxim about fortitude rather than a claim tied to a particular event.