Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater.

Hazlitt contrasts the lessons learned in comfort with those learned under pressure. Prosperity can educate by rewarding effort and revealing what works, but it also cushions mistakes and can flatter the ego. Adversity, by contrast, strips away illusions: it tests character, exposes dependencies, and forces adaptation. The aphorism reflects a moral-psychological view common in Hazlitt’s essays—skeptical of complacency and attentive to how experience shapes judgment. Its sting lies in the comparative: hardship is not merely instructive, it is the more rigorous tutor, because it compels self-knowledge and resilience rather than allowing success to be mistaken for virtue.