CURATED COLLECTION

Accepting What You Cannot Change

Equanimity is not indifference — it is the hard-won ability to bear what cannot be undone.

50 quotes found

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What happened cannot be undone. You can only look ahead, not behind.

—Zhang AilingWriter & Novelist

Early Modern ERA • East Asia

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Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

—EpictetusPhilosopher

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

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The truth is always bitter and hard to accept.

—Grace OgotAuthor & Politician

Post-War ERA • East Africa

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We always overestimate change in two years, underestimate change in ten years.

—Bill GatesEntrepreneur & Philanthropist

Late Modern ERA • North America

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With my body, I shall bear witness to the dawn of a new China.

—Qiu JinFeminist, Revolutionary & Poet

Early Modern ERA • East Asia

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Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.

—Ruth Bader GinsburgLawyer

Digital Age ERA • North America

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The one thing that is for ever certain in this world is change.

—Charles DickensNovelist & Critic

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

—Marcus AureliusEmperor & Philosopher

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

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The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.

—Alexis de TocquevilleScientist & Historian

Industrial Age ERA • Western Europe

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There's no way out, and that itself is the way out.

—László KrasznahorkaiNovelist

Late Modern ERA • Eastern Europe

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It is not given to mankind to stop Fortune's wheel.

—Giovanni BoccaccioWriter & Poet

Medieval ERA • Southern Europe

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Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

—Leo TolstoyNovelist & Philosopher

Industrial Age ERA • Eastern Europe

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The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution.

—Hannah ArendtPolitical Philosopher

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

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Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing.

—Wangari MaathaiActivist

Contemporary ERA • East Africa

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History is a great teacher. Men who ignore it are condemned to repeat it.

—Haile SelassieEmperor

Post-War ERA • East Africa

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I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.

—George WashingtonPresident & General

Enlightenment ERA • North America

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Progress is simply a function of how much energy you apply to a problem.

—Elon MuskEntrepreneur & Engineer

Digital Age ERA • North America

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Thinking is always out of order, interrupts all ordinary activities and is itself interrupted by them.

—Hannah ArendtPolitical Philosopher

Post-War ERA • Western Europe

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Life is a railway station, where one gets off for a while, then goes on.

—Marina TsvetaevaPoet

Early Modern ERA • Eastern Europe

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Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.

—Benjamin FranklinPolymath & Statesman

Enlightenment ERA • North America

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