Good Wood - My Person Favorite

The tree that never had to fight for sun, sky, air, and light stood out in the open plain and always got its share of rain. It never became a forest king but lived and died a scrubby thing. The man who never had to toil to gain and farm his patch of soil, Who never had to win his share of sun, sky, light, and air, never became a manly man. But he lived and died as he began. Good timber does not grow quickly; the stronger the wind, the more vigorous the trees; the further the sky, the greater the length; the more the storm, the more the strength. Suitable timbers grow in trees and men by sun and cold, rain and snow. Where thickest lies the forest growth. We find the patriarchs of both. And they hold counsel with the stars whose broken branches show the scars of many winds and much strife. This is the common law of life. 

Sterling W. Sill, Making the Most of Yourself