--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are those who receive as birthright…" description: "\"There are those who receive as birthright an adequate or at least unquestioned sense of self and those who set out to reinvent themselves, for survival..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/rebecca-solnit-569_adequate_there-are-those-who-receive-as-birthrigh_219243.png" --- # There are those who receive as birthright an adequate or… ![“There are those who receive as birthright an adequate or at least unquestioned sense of self and those who set out to reinvent themselves, for survival or for satisfaction, and travel far. Some people inherit values and practices as a house they inhabit; some of us have to burn down that house…” quote by Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/rebecca-solnit-569_adequate_there-are-those-who-receive-as-birthrigh_219243.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/rebecca-solnit-569_adequate_there-are-those-who-receive-as-birthrigh_219243.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34b/rebecca-solnit-569_adequate_there-are-those-who-receive-as-birthrigh_219243.png) > “There are those who receive as birthright an adequate or at least unquestioned sense of self and those who set out to reinvent themselves, for survival or for satisfaction, and travel far. Some people inherit values and practices as a house they inhabit; some of us have to burn down that house, find our own ground, build from scratch, even as a psychological metamorphosis.” [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote contrasts innate self‑confidence with the deliberate, often painful, process of self‑reinvention required for personal growth or survival. **In simple terms:** Some are born confident; others must rebuild themselves. Key Takeaway Embrace change and rebuild your identity. Themes identity growth reinvention resilience psychology Mood reflective determined hopeful Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career transition - therapy - creative projects - cultural adaptation - personal crisis Key Concepts self‑concept metamorphosis authenticity survival satisfaction Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of your identity feel inherited versus chosen? - How can you honor past influences while forging a new self? A Different Perspective Reinvention can be destabilizing and may alienate existing support networks. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Adequate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adequate/) [Birthright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/birthright/) [House](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/house/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Metamorphosis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metamorphosis/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [People Inherit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-inherit-2243388/) [Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice/) [Psychological](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychological/) [Psychological Metamorphosis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychological-metamorphosis-2243386/) [Receive Birthright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/receive-birthright-2243390/) [Satisfaction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/satisfaction/) [Scratches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scratches/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Sense of self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-of-self/) [Sense Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-self/) [Survival](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/survival/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) ## Related quotes > [“Reading these stories, it's tempting to think that the arts to be learned are those of tracking, hunting, navigating, skills of survival and escape.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/reading-these-stories-it-s-tempting-to-think-that-the-arts-to-be/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“In a capitalist society there are always inequalities of class and wealth. People who inherit money and property will always see themselves as being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-wentworth/in-a-capitalist-society-there-are-always-inequalities-of-class-and/) [Sally Wentworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-wentworth/) > [“Most people inherit success and fame; if you have earned it piece by piece you will know how hard it is.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-f-moonzajer/most-people-inherit-success-and-fame-if-you-have-earned-it-piece-by/) [M.F. Moonzajer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-f-moonzajer/) > [“The people thrown into other cultures go through something of the anguish of the butterfly, whose body must disintegrate and reform more than once…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/the-people-thrown-into-other-cultures-go-through-something-of-the/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [What the philosopher is seeking is not truth, but rather the metamorphosis of the world into man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/what-the-philosopher-is-seeking-is-not-truth-but-rather-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [When anger is not trampling roughshod through our nervous system, it is sitting sullenly in some unspecified internal organ. "She's got a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-tavris/when-anger-is-not-trampling-roughshod-through-our-nervous-system-it/) [Carol Tavris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-tavris/) > [The speed with which modern society has adapted to accommodate the world's vast spectrum of gender and sexual identities may be the most important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenna-wortham/the-speed-with-which-modern-society-has-adapted-to-accommodate-the/) [Jenna Wortham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenna-wortham/) > [“Witnessing the moonrise each month, a person cannot resist noting a modest sense of optimism tugging at his or her enclosed capsule of bodily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kilroy-j-oldster/witnessing-the-moonrise-each-month-a-person-cannot-resist-noting-a/) [Kilroy J. Oldster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kilroy-j-oldster/) > [For lovers, touch is metamorphosis. All the parts of their bodies seem to change, and they seem to become something different and better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cheever/for-lovers-touch-is-metamorphosis-all-the-parts-of-their-bodies-seem/) [John Cheever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cheever/) > [Autumn is the very soul of metamorphosis, a time when the world is poised at the door of winter - which is the door…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/autumn-is-the-very-soul-of-metamorphosis-a-time-when-the-world-is/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [It is almost banal to say so yet it needs to be stressed continually: all is creation, all is change, all is flux, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/it-is-almost-banal-to-say-so-yet-it-needs-to-be-stressed-continually/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [Most animals are like the unfortunate Gregor Samsa after metamorphosis. They are Kafka-creatures, organisms with rich thoughts and emotions but no system for translating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-hauser/most-animals-are-like-the-unfortunate-gregor-samsa-after/) [Marc Hauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-hauser/) > [You've got to be like a butterfly and have a metamorphosis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-markkula/you-ve-got-to-be-like-a-butterfly-and-have-a-metamorphosis/) [Mike Markkula](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-markkula/) > [“Svako živi iza rešetaka koje nosi sa sobom. Zato se sada tako mnogo piše o životinjama. To je izraz čežnje za slobodnim, prirodnim životom.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustav-janouch/svako-ivi-iza-re-etaka-koje-nosi-sa-sobom-zato-se-sada-tako-mnogo-pi/) [Gustav Janouch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustav-janouch/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) ## More by Rebecca Solnit > [“Georgia O’Keeffe moved to rural New Mexico, from which she would sign her letters to the people she loved, “from the faraway nearby.” It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/georgia-o-keeffe-moved-to-rural-new-mexico-from-which-she-would-sign/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Joy doesn't betray but sustains activism. 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It's so common to live in a place without truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/whose-maps-are-we-trying-to-read-and-what-are-we-trying-to-draw-it-s/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“I was being cured of soldiering on endlessly: my job was now to be still, which had become almost easy at last.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/i-was-being-cured-of-soldiering-on-endlessly-my-job-was-now-to-be/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [In the aftermath of 9/11, people had not a good time, but a deep, profound, rousing time, woke up from their ennui and isolation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/in-the-aftermath-of-9-11-people-had-not-a-good-time-but-a-deep/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“I wonder now about Demeter and Persephone. Maybe Persephone was glad to run off with the king of death to his underground realm, maybe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/i-wonder-now-about-demeter-and-persephone-maybe-persephone-was-glad/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [ \[In mountaineering, if\] we look for private experience rather than public history, even getting to the top becomes an optional narrative rather than the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/in-mountaineering-if-we-look-for-private-experience-rather-than/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [For me, being in a car or on an airplane is like being in limbo. It's this dead zone between two places. But to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/for-me-being-in-a-car-or-on-an-airplane-is-like-being-in-limbo-it-s/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“How do you calculate upon the unforeseen? It seems to be an art of recognizing the role of the unforeseen, of keeping your balance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/how-do-you-calculate-upon-the-unforeseen-it-seems-to-be-an-art-of/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [Walking shares with making and working that crucial element of engagement of the body and the mind with the world, of knowing the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/walking-shares-with-making-and-working-that-crucial-element-of/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“Marriage equality is a threat: to inequality. It’s a boon to everyone who values and benefits from equality. It’s for all of us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/marriage-equality-is-a-threat-to-inequality-it-s-a-boon-to-everyone/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“Mountaineering is always spoken of as though summiting is conquest, but as you get higher, the world gets bigger, and you feel smaller in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/mountaineering-is-always-spoken-of-as-though-summiting-is-conquest/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [“A procession is a participants' journey, while a parade is a performance with an audience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/a-procession-is-a-participants-journey-while-a-parade-is-a/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) [Explore all 469 Rebecca Solnit quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) ## More Adequate quotes > [What I search for continuously in my art is adequate language, language I hope can stand beyond any particular occasion. What I'm finding is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/what-i-search-for-continuously-in-my-art-is-adequate-language/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The action carries a sense of incompleteness and frustration, but not of guilt. Victorious living does not mean perfect living in the sense of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-stanley-jones/the-action-carries-a-sense-of-incompleteness-and-frustration-but-not/) [E. Stanley Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-stanley-jones/) > [Seen from the point of view of the composer, the most nonsensical practice is that of casting people in musicals who are unable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-gold/seen-from-the-point-of-view-of-the-composer-the-most-nonsensical/) [Ernest Gold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-gold/) > [And I am quite serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on the whole earth besides, so many intensified bores…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/and-i-am-quite-serious-when-i-say-that-i-do-not-believe-there-are-on/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [Art can only be truly art by presenting an adequate outward symbol of some fact in the interior life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-fuller/art-can-only-be-truly-art-by-presenting-an-adequate-outward-symbol-of/) [Margaret Fuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-fuller/) > [The President has once again failed us. 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But the reality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/all-the-world-s-major-religions-with-their-emphasis-on-love/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [Conversation in its happiest development is a link, equally exquisite and adequate, between mind and mind, a system by which men approach one another…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-repplier/conversation-in-its-happiest-development-is-a-link-equally-exquisite/) [Agnes Repplier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-repplier/) > [A strong accountability system needs to broaden, not narrow, the curriculum. That cannot happen if you only have accountability without adequate school funding. Until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-gelber/a-strong-accountability-system-needs-to-broaden-not-narrow-the/) [Dan Gelber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-gelber/) > [All propaganda or popularization involves a putting of the complex into the simple, but such a move is instantly not constructive. For if the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/all-propaganda-or-popularization-involves-a-putting-of-the-complex/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [You have no right to go before a public without an adequate technique, just because you feel. Anything feels - a leaf feels, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-graham/you-have-no-right-to-go-before-a-public-without-an-adequate-technique/) [Martha Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-graham/) > [In sum, the Court's conclusion that a constitutionally adequate recount is impractical is a prophecy the Court's own judgment will not allow to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-bader-ginsburg/in-sum-the-court-s-conclusion-that-a-constitutionally-adequate/) [Ruth Bader Ginsburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-bader-ginsburg/) > [Travelling doesn't stress me, since adequate 10-hour sleep post-travel is sufficient for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anushka-shetty/travelling-doesn-t-stress-me-since-adequate-10-hour-sleep-post-travel/) [Anushka Shetty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anushka-shetty/) > [Remorse is cureless--the Disease Not even God--can heal-- For 'tis His institution--and The Adequate of Hell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/remorse-is-cureless-the-disease-not-even-god-can-heal-for-tis-his/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Too often, attention is diverted from the needs of populations, insufficient emphasis is placed on work in the fields, and the goods of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-benedict-xvi/too-often-attention-is-diverted-from-the-needs-of-populations/) [Pope Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-benedict-xvi/) [Browse all 522 Adequate quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adequate/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There are those who receive as birthright an adequate or at least unquestioned sense of self and those who set out to reinvent themselves, for survival or for satisfaction, and travel far. 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