"Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices"
About this Quote
The subtext is clinical, even if the language is humane. Tournier, writing in a 20th-century moment saturated with psychoanalysis, war trauma, and the rise of self-help moralism, refuses the fantasy of a clean slate. "Handicaps of heredity" nods to the body and temperament you didn’t choose. "Suffering" names the brute facts. "Psychological complexes" imports a then-current vocabulary for the ways the past metastasizes inside the self. "Injustices" widens the frame beyond the individual, a quiet rebuke to any therapy that treats structural harm as a personal mindset issue.
Why it works is the inventory: heredity, pain, psyche, society. That list denies the reader the easy loophole of blaming only one thing. Acceptance here is not optimism; it’s realism with spine. The intent is ethical as much as therapeutic: face what’s given, stop bargaining with the facts, and you’ll finally have something solid to push against.
Quote Details
| Topic | Life |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Tournier, Paul. (2026, January 15). Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/acceptance-of-ones-life-has-nothing-to-do-with-151956/
Chicago Style
Tournier, Paul. "Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/acceptance-of-ones-life-has-nothing-to-do-with-151956/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/acceptance-of-ones-life-has-nothing-to-do-with-151956/. Accessed 29 Mar. 2026.
