Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like a toad, though ugly and venomous......?

Question

Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like a toad, though ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head.

what does that mean???

Answer 1

According to a web search this site linked below has this to say, quote:

"How do we respond to adversity when it confronts us?

Shakespeare’s response to this question is counterintuitive. At the beginning of the second act of As You Like It, Duke Senior and his co-mates have fled to the woods to escape the travails of life. There, as if in the bucolic calm of Eden, they muse about what Shakespeare elsewhere calls the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Duke Senior speaks of…

...the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind,
Which when it bites and blows upon my body
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile, and say
'This is no flattery. These are counselors
That feelingly persuade me what I am.'
Sweet are the uses of adversity
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

Note that Shakespeare does not say that that adversity is sweet, nor does he say that everything is good. In fact, he acknowledges that adversity is ugly and venomous, but claims that its uses are sweet. If you are at a point in life when you are surrounded by only stones, then look for sermons in them. There is good in everything. More than that, sometimes jewels come in ugly packages. In other words, there are some things we can never discover about life unless we are willing to grapple with adversity; there is no other way."

Answer 2

I don't know, but who cares? It sounds so nice.