"I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life"
About this Quote
Responsibility, in Walter Anderson's hands, isn't a badge you pin on after you've successfully controlled the chaos. It's the one thing you're not allowed to outsource when control fails. The opening move - "I am responsible" - is blunt, almost legalistic, as if he's filing a claim against his own tendency to blame fate, society, or other people. Then he tightens the argument with a hard concession: some disasters can't be prevented. That's not defeatism; it's a boundary line. By admitting the limits of agency, he protects the core of what he wants to salvage: the power to choose a posture.
The key phrase is "my attitude". Anderson isn't selling sunny optimism; he's insisting on moral authorship. Misfortunes are described as "inevitable" and life-darkening, a tonal choice that rejects the self-help fantasy that pain is optional or always meaningful. The subtext is a critique of two familiar evasions: the control myth ("If I'm smart enough, nothing bad will happen") and the victim script ("Since I can't stop it, I'm absolved"). He denies both. You can't always steer the storm, but you are answerable for whether you become cruel, numb, or smaller inside it.
Context matters: a writer who lived through the first half of the 20th century would have seen misfortune on an industrial scale - war, depression, social upheaval - the kind of reality that makes cheap positivity obscene. Anderson's intent is practical and bracing: if tragedy is part of the contract, dignity is how you negotiate your share of it.
The key phrase is "my attitude". Anderson isn't selling sunny optimism; he's insisting on moral authorship. Misfortunes are described as "inevitable" and life-darkening, a tonal choice that rejects the self-help fantasy that pain is optional or always meaningful. The subtext is a critique of two familiar evasions: the control myth ("If I'm smart enough, nothing bad will happen") and the victim script ("Since I can't stop it, I'm absolved"). He denies both. You can't always steer the storm, but you are answerable for whether you become cruel, numb, or smaller inside it.
Context matters: a writer who lived through the first half of the 20th century would have seen misfortune on an industrial scale - war, depression, social upheaval - the kind of reality that makes cheap positivity obscene. Anderson's intent is practical and bracing: if tragedy is part of the contract, dignity is how you negotiate your share of it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Resilience |
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