You're not another one who believes in this rubbish propagated by Red Pill idiots are you? I trust you only put this up for its meme quality?
why "rubbish"? Of course it's stupid to read it literally, pretending to apply it to actual society / past society, but its meaning is true. The phrase is meant to emphasize the potential for personal growth from challenging experiences. It implies that people can benefit from hardship if they use it as an opportunity to build their character and become stronger, while it's almost impossible to improve yourself if you don't face challenges. And once you are stronger (physically and mentally) you'll have an easier time when you face a problem. On the contrary, if you're not prepared, it will be much more difficult to overcome any obstacle. that's basically the same concept of "no pain, no gain"
But surely, quotes of supposed wisdom are meant to provide said wisdom at face value, without the need for such in-depth interpretation as yours? Hardship can act as a catalyst for self-improvement, that is true, but too much of it does just as much harm as not enough of it. Take a war, for example, the most obvious and cataclysmic example of human suffering. It's certainly true that a conflict can bring out the best in already good men, and instil courage in those who have none, and quite rightly these men are respected and honoured. However, it can also shatter the minds of previously decent people, and bring out the worst in those who were already nasty pieces of work. These weak people were thus not created by the good times, as the quote claims, but the bad times. Similarly, in peacetime there are loads of good people who constantly and consistently know how to do the right thing, and these good, strong people would be the product of good times, not bad times, yet the quote ignores them entirely and portrays everyone who has grown up in good times as a member of the small, noisy minority of weak idiots who try to disrupt society. It could be said, then, that suffering has the potential to bring about both the best and worst in people, but even this mindset still portrays the environment, and the amount of suffering there is at the time, as the primary shaper of human behaviour, when in actuality the only thing that should be considered accountable for each person's behaviour is the person themselves. Everyone, male and female, has a choice of whether to be internally strong or internally weak, at any time, and they are, at all times, responsible for the consequences of both good and bad behaviour. Many people claim that hardships supposedly shaped them into the people they are today, through rose-tinted glasses, but they were only shaped in the first place because they allowed themselves to be shaped for the better, because they wanted to help themselves and improve themselves. In short, the quote is a gross generalisation of human behaviour, and is so often parroted by bitter, angry Red Pill men that either want another World War to 'toughen men up' or to turn the world back to the Middle Ages so that they and their followers can bully and tyrannise the innocent without any form of challenge, that I readily see it as one of the many myths propagated by the demagogues of their 'macho' cult that is as damaging for men as feminism is for women. I can certainly think of far better quotes that illustrate the importance of what you're trying to convey in your own interpretation, at face value and without the stain of being used by political extremists: "Be Prepared" - the motto of the Scouts, of course "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear" - Nelson Mandela e.t.c, e.t.c, e.t.c And even then, it's advice that only works when common sense agrees to apply it in moderation. Yes, taking risks and enduring a certain, temporary amount of hardship for definite and evident gain is worth it, but quotes like these are so often abused by deluded gamblers who think that the only way forward is by making bigger and bigger risks, at times when it would be so much more intelligent just to keep and be grateful for what you have, before they inevitably lose everything and are reduced to eking existence as paupers or among the homeless. No pain may constitute no gain, but too much pain stops you from enjoying your gain.