No amount of careful planning removes the possibility that life will simply not cooperate. Aristotle put a name to how a person handles that gap between plan and reality. "The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances," he wrote. The word "accidents" here does not mean literal accidents specifically. It means the unpredictable events, illness, setbacks, loss, that arrive regardless of preparation. The line does not promise that hardship can be avoided through sufficient planning, since Aristotle was too realistic a thinker to make that claim. It offers something narrower and more useful instead, a description of what remains genuinely within a person's control once misfortune has already arrived.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
