Life & Wisdom Quote by Anne Wilson Schaef

Security, in Anne Wilson Schaef's framing, isn’t a refuge; it’s a control fantasy with good branding. Her line punctures the comforting assumption that “security” is a neutral public good. Instead, she treats it as a psychological project: we try to freeze a moving universe into something legible, predictable, and therefore less frightening. The verb choice matters. “Attempt” admits failure upfront. “Try to make” suggests strain, not strength. Schaef positions safety not as a condition we achieve, but as a feeling we chase by reorganizing reality around our anxiety.

The subtext is a critique of modern coping strategies that masquerade as maturity: the savings account that becomes a substitute for trust, the relationship rules that replace intimacy, the risk management mindset that turns life into a spreadsheet. Schaef, known for writing about addiction, recovery, and systems that enable denial, is pointing at the same reflex: when uncertainty hurts, we build structures that promise relief while quietly demanding obedience. Security becomes less about protection from genuine harm and more about insulation from the terror of not being in charge.

Contextually, it lands neatly in late-20th-century American life: self-help culture, corporate bureaucracies, and a growing belief that the right plan can outsmart randomness. Schaef’s sentence works because it doesn’t romanticize chaos; it exposes the hidden cost of overvaluing stability. When you insist the universe be static, you don’t just reduce danger. You reduce possibility.