"So often we try to alter circumstances to suit ourselves, instead of letting them alter us, which is what they are meant to do"
About this Quote
The intent is less resignation than re-education. "So often" is a soft indictment, the kind that assumes the reader is guilty because the speaker is, too. "Suit ourselves" names the modern reflex toward control and customization; the phrase carries a faint whiff of entitlement, of expecting reality to be adjustable. Then comes the counterproposal: letting circumstances "alter us". The verb choice matters. Not "teach" or "influence" but "alter" suggests genuine change, the kind that costs pride and punctures identity.
The subtext is a critique of performative resilience. We love narratives where hardship becomes a brand asset, proof of grit, a before-and-after story we can narrate on our own terms. Mother Maribel is asking for something more difficult: submission to the unchosen, not as defeat but as consent to being remade.
Contextually, a writer using the honorific "Mother" evokes spiritual counsel, communal life, or caregiving authority. The line reads like pastoral realism: a reminder that growth rarely arrives through the circumstances we curate, and almost always through the ones that refuse to cooperate.
Quote Details
| Topic | Embrace Change |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Maribel, Mother. (2026, January 16). So often we try to alter circumstances to suit ourselves, instead of letting them alter us, which is what they are meant to do. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-often-we-try-to-alter-circumstances-to-suit-110160/
Chicago Style
Maribel, Mother. "So often we try to alter circumstances to suit ourselves, instead of letting them alter us, which is what they are meant to do." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-often-we-try-to-alter-circumstances-to-suit-110160/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"So often we try to alter circumstances to suit ourselves, instead of letting them alter us, which is what they are meant to do." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/so-often-we-try-to-alter-circumstances-to-suit-110160/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.











