One must needs like what one cannot hinder.
One must needs like what one cannot hinder.
Meaning in plain English
Living with an unchangeable condition may require finding a workable attitude toward it. Acceptance of a limit does not mean approving injustice or giving up available choices.
Example
When an outdoor event is cancelled by weather, its organisers acknowledge disappointment and use an available indoor plan rather than insisting that the rain stop.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
The saying presents liking an unavoidable situation as necessary. A more careful reading separates acceptance of the present facts from admiration for them. If a condition cannot presently be altered, attention can turn to the responses still available and the support needed to bear it. This may reduce an exhausting struggle with what cannot be controlled. The words should not be used to demand cheerful compliance from someone facing harm. Whether a limit is truly unavoidable also needs examination; collective action or changed circumstances may make improvement possible.
When to use it
Use it to consider workable responses to a genuinely fixed present condition.
Keep in mind
Do not call a harmful situation inevitable without examining alternatives. Acceptance is not consent to mistreatment.
Edsverb editorial interpretation · agent reviewed · 2026-10-05. This explains the saying; it does not establish its historical origin.
- Source
- A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857)
Printed page 23; French section, paragraph 452; source wording: Il faut vouloir ce qu’on ne peut empêcher.
Read the original context ↗ - Attribution confidence
- traditional · historical anthology
Preserved as printed; independently unverified. - Historical coordinate
- Undated
No reliable date supplied by the collection. - Rights & edition
- Public domain (United States)
Translations and rights may differ elsewhere.
Provenance and licences ↗