This quote by Waverley Lewis Root talks to the idea of fate and fate. It recommends that certain things in life are predetermined and that there is no leaving them. The metaphor of mint being crushed implies that no matter how hard one attempts, particular things are unavoidable. This could be analyzed as a warning to not combat against the unavoidable, as it will only result in additional suffering. It might also be seen as a tip to accept the things that can not be changed and to concentrate on the things that can. The quote motivates us to accept our fate and to reconcile it. It is a pointer that life is unforeseeable and that we ought to not take anything for granted. It is a suggestion to be modest and to value the little things in life. Ultimately, this quote is a suggestion to maximize our lives and to not take anything for approved.
"We have our own history, our own language, our own culture. But our destiny is also tied up with the destinies of other people - history has made us all South Africans"
"Successful people are 100% convinced that they are masters of their own destiny, they're not creatures of circumstance, they create circumstance if the circumstances around them suck they change them"
"It is the lot of man to share in the deeper aspirations of the universe around him and to share his own destiny as well as that of the universe, now by adjusting himself to its forces, now by putting the whole of his energy to his own ends and purposes"