Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power.

The saying contrasts two tests of character: suffering and authority. Many people can endure hardship because adversity is imposed from outside and often elicits sympathy, solidarity, or resignation. Power, by contrast, removes external restraints and supplies opportunities for self-indulgence, cruelty, or corruption; it reveals what a person chooses when they can act without fear of consequence. The quote implies that moral identity is best measured by how one treats others when one has leverage over them—whether one uses power to serve, to dominate, or to exploit. It also functions as a warning about leadership: institutions should judge and limit power because it can expose and amplify latent vices.