re: “Hard times create strong men

So if good times are a bad thing, why not celebrate weak men? Because they will bring about hard times according to the quote. Or are hard times not good either? Do we need kind of strong men and kind of weak? Maybe that will bring about mediocre times and that’s the sweet spot.

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So if good times are a bad thing, why not celebrate weak men?

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This is just so dumb.

Dumb is being kind here.

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Maybe that will bring about mediocre times and that’s the sweet spot.

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getting close to the only thing you've said i might agree with.

i've made my point twice now. one time too many.

Also Romans 9:18 says “God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.”

Well put. Also even if one were to grant say the height of the Roman Empire were “good times.” The empire prospered for hundreds of years, so where is the line of when the “good times”, starting producing weak mean and thereby leading to the “bad times.”

Because God can choose, too

The 1930 and 40s created a much stronger generation that ended up building the most secure and prosperous society in human history. The pampered generations that followed have cried about "how bad it is" despite having had the best living conditions in history. What has resulted is an unravelling of society.

This pattern is quite historically supported. Over and over again.

The Roman examples are a decent one. Building Rome as a major republic took great men. Keeping it after the building work was done became much harder and saw continued instability as civil unrest and eventual civil war broke out. aka "hard times."
From this came the need for strong men to create stability- the Empire, which again brought good times...until the weak men from pampered times could not hold things together.

Out of the Dark ages that followed, strong men again brought stability and prosperity..etc etc

Sure, there are other factors such as disease, climate change, unexpected invasions and so on, but strong men tend to navigate adversity more successfully. The weakened populations of pampered times cannot mentally deal with adversity.

And yes, the Greatest Generation represented the last generation of the American builders. The multi-generational mold of Americans who fought the wilderness, tamed the West, built industry and agriculture, and took the USA from backwater republic to global hegemon.

Now Americans just feel entitled to the high life, without having to work and kill for it.

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If anything hard times make shittier and more callous people, and the better things get, the better things get.

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I can't think of a more inaccurate quote.
The weird, religious belief in linear progress certainly has no basis in any human record. History proves the opposite. Great powers and advanced societies fall over and over again. For several reasons, but mostly because of mindsets like the OP

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Well put. Also even if one were to grant say the height of the Roman Empire were “good times.” The empire prospered for hundreds of years, so where is the line of when the “good times”

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You're taking a pretty general rule and saying, since it doesn't fit into a perfect cycle, it can't be correct.

Well if it can’t be pinned down and proved in any meaningful way historically, then what value does it have?