About

Hard Times Create Strong Men, Strong Men Create Good Times, Good Times Create Weak Men, Weak Men Create Hard Times refers to a catchphrase that attempts to describe the cycle of prosperity and regression in society. Starting in 2016, the phrase has appeared in multiple image macros and has later become a subject of parodies and ironic use.

Origin

While the quote is generally attributed to Those Who Remain: A Postapocalyptic Novel, a book by G. Michael Hopf published in December 2016,^[4] the earliest macros containing the phrase were spread online starting as early as August 2016. These include a collection of four paintings depicting various periods of Roman Empire, and a photograph of several armed Chechen fighters, with an August 15th, 2016, post on 9GAG^[1] being the earliest viral image macro containing the caption (shown below, left).

Spread

Both images received viral spread online in 2016 and 2017, with multiple reposts on Facebook, iFunny, 4chan and other sites. For example, a September 25th, 2016, reupload of the first image to Imgur^[2] received over 55,900 views in four years. On September 7th, 2017, Twitter^[3] user @MarkACollett reposted the second image, gaining over 110 retweets and 190 likes.

Starting in early 2017, following the viral spread of the original macros, a Political Compass meme based on it received viral spread online (shown below).

In the following years, the caption has been repurposed for parodies and ironic use (examples shown below).

Search Interest

External References