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About this quote

What does it mean?
Van Gogh attributes his adventurous life to circumstances beyond his control rather than personal preference.
In plain terms
He became an adventurer because life made him, not because he chose to.
What can you take from it?
Accept that some life paths are imposed by fate rather than choice.

Where it applies

  • career changes
  • life transitions
  • personal reflection

Putting it to work

  • reflect on life choices
  • accept circumstances

Questions to consider

  • How much of your life is chosen versus happened to you?
  • Do you accept your fate or fight it?

Another view

This view may downplay the agency individuals have in shaping their own paths.

More from Vincent Van Gogh

  1. I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.

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  2. I believe that it may happen that one will succeed, and one must not begin to despair, even though defeated here and there; and even though one sometimes feels…

    Permalink to quote #35

  3. How rich art is; if one can only remember what one has seen, one is never without food for thought or truly lonely, never alone.

    Permalink to quote #32

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