Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny.

Although widely attributed to C. S. Lewis, this aphorism expresses a broadly Christian and moral-psychological idea: suffering can function as a formative discipline, shaping character, resilience, and humility in ways comfort rarely does. The “ordinary person” suggests that greatness is not reserved for the naturally gifted; rather, adversity can cultivate virtues—courage, patience, compassion—that enable a person to meet responsibilities or callings that would otherwise overwhelm them. The line also implies a providential arc (“destiny”), framing hardship not as meaningless pain but as preparation. Read critically, it risks romanticizing suffering; read carefully, it emphasizes transformation rather than the inherent goodness of hardship itself.