fredism's photostream  

"For the world is like an olive press, and men are constantly under pressure. If you are the dregs of oil, you are carried away by the sewer; but if you are the true oil, you remain in the vessel. But to be under pressure is inescapable. Observe the dregs, observe the oil, and choose; for pressure takes place through all the world., We all know people who crumble under pressure and complain, but they speak as the dregs of oil which will later run away to the sewer. Their color is dirty, for they are cowards. They lack splendor. But there is another sort of man who welcomes splendor. He is under the same pressure, but he does not complain. For it is the friction which polishes him. It is the pressure which refines him and makes him noble."

--St. Augustine, 1029 A.D.