--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Why must you always try to be omnipotent…" description: "\"Why must you always try to be omnipotent, and shove things about? Tragic things happen sometimes that we just have to submit to.\" — Rebecca West" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c21/rebecca-west-1248_acceptance_why-must-you-always-try-to-be-omnipotent_875216.jpg" --- # Why must you always try to be omnipotent, and shove things… ![“Why must you always try to be omnipotent, and shove things about? Tragic things happen sometimes that we just have to submit to.” quote by Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c21/rebecca-west-1248_acceptance_why-must-you-always-try-to-be-omnipotent_875216.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c21/rebecca-west-1248_acceptance_why-must-you-always-try-to-be-omnipotent_875216.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c21/rebecca-west-1248_acceptance_why-must-you-always-try-to-be-omnipotent_875216.jpg) > “Why must you always try to be omnipotent, and shove things about? Tragic things happen sometimes that we just have to submit to.” [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) ## 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 warns against the futile pursuit of total control and urges acceptance of inevitable tragedy. **In simple terms:** Trying to control everything is hopeless; accept what cannot be changed. Key Takeaway Accept limits, let go of impossible control. Themes control acceptance tragedy humility Mood somber reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal loss - global crises - grief counseling - spiritual practice Key Concepts existentialism psychology resilience Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of life can you realistically control? - How does acceptance change your response to tragedy? A Different Perspective Human beings cannot prevent all suffering; some events are beyond influence. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Acceptance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acceptance/) [Disaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disaster/) [Loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loss/) [Omnipotent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/omnipotent/) [Things happen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-happen/) [Tragic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tragic/) ## Related quotes > [“To abandon the child ‘within’ means that the adult ‘without’ will be an adult in name only. And frankly, I can only name a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/to-abandon-the-child-within-means-that-the-adult-without-will-be-an/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [Some things are so tragic that you don't know what's funny in it, and some things are so ridiculous you don't know if it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wilmore/some-things-are-so-tragic-that-you-don-t-know-what-s-funny-in-it-and/) [Larry Wilmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wilmore/) > [A lot of sad things have happened to my friends' children, people you knew as babies. They've been killed or become crazy or all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-paley/a-lot-of-sad-things-have-happened-to-my-friends-children-people-you/) [Grace Paley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-paley/) > [I've always found the most tragic things funny. I was always the guy laughing at the funeral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-gurland/i-ve-always-found-the-most-tragic-things-funny-i-was-always-the-guy/) [Andrew Gurland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-gurland/) > [There are a lot of problems in the world, a lot of tragic things that have to be addressed, economic, medical, political, all kinds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-stockwell/there-are-a-lot-of-problems-in-the-world-a-lot-of-tragic-things-that/) [Dean Stockwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-stockwell/) > [I didn't wish those tragedies upon the people who played them out. It was certainly tragic for them, but not for me. 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We are all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-carnegie/one-of-the-most-tragic-things-i-know-about-human-nature-is-that-all/) [Dale Carnegie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-carnegie/) > [“Hate not the most abject sinner, look not to his exterior. Turn thy gaze inward, where resides the Paramatman. Proclaim to the whole world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/hate-not-the-most-abject-sinner-look-not-to-his-exterior-turn-thy/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [Sometimes we like to think if we had power, that we would be different, and we would be omnipotent, but the truth is absolute…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-ackie/sometimes-we-like-to-think-if-we-had-power-that-we-would-be-different/) [Naomi Ackie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-ackie/) > [Nothing, therefore, happens unless the Omnipotent wills it to happen. He either permits it to happen, or He brings it about Himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/nothing-therefore-happens-unless-the-omnipotent-wills-it-to-happen-he/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [What more does man want to know than that the hand or power that made these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/what-more-does-man-want-to-know-than-that-the-hand-or-power-that-made/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [About 120 million of us place the big bang 2,500 years after the Babylonians and Sumerians learned to brew beer. If our polls are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-harris/about-120-million-of-us-place-the-big-bang-2-500-years-after-the/) [Sam Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-harris/) > [“Intuition is an omnipotent wonder, for it is not bound by the bands of time or space. When we are tune with it, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaeda-dewalt/intuition-is-an-omnipotent-wonder-for-it-is-not-bound-by-the-bands-of/) [Jaeda DeWalt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaeda-dewalt/) ## More by Rebecca West > [I see the main problem of my life, and indeed anybody's life, as the balancing of competitive freedoms ... a sense of mutual obligations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/i-see-the-main-problem-of-my-life-and-indeed-anybody-s-life-as-the/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [“There is, of course, no reason for the existence of the male sex except that sometimes one needs help with moving the piano.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-is-of-course-no-reason-for-the-existence-of-the-male-sex-except/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [“At the top of a hill our automobile stuck in a snowdrift. Peasants ran out of a cottage near by, shouting with laughter because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/at-the-top-of-a-hill-our-automobile-stuck-in-a-snowdrift-peasants-ran/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [We all drew on the comfort which is given out by the major works of Mozart, which is as real and material as the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/we-all-drew-on-the-comfort-which-is-given-out-by-the-major-works-of/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Christianity must be regarded not as a final revelation but as a phase of revelation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/christianity-must-be-regarded-not-as-a-final-revelation-but-as-a/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Art and propaganda have this much connection, that if a propaganda makes art impossible, it is clearly damned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/art-and-propaganda-have-this-much-connection-that-if-a-propaganda/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [The American struggle for the vote was much more difficult than the English for the simple reason that it was much more easy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/the-american-struggle-for-the-vote-was-much-more-difficult-than-the/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [ Like all bad drivers, he \[Henry Andrews\] thought he was the best driver in the world... ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/like-all-bad-drivers-he-henry-andrews-thought-he-was-the-best-driver/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [The childhood of the individual and the race is full of fears, and panic-stricken attempts to avert what is feared by placating the gods…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/the-childhood-of-the-individual-and-the-race-is-full-of-fears-and/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Humanity is never more sphinxlike than when it is expressing itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/humanity-is-never-more-sphinxlike-than-when-it-is-expressing-itself/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [ \[On Jane Austen:\] To believe her limited in range because she was harmonious in method is as sensible as to imagine that when the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/on-jane-austen-to-believe-her-limited-in-range-because-she-was/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [a good oyster cannot please the palate as acutely as a bad one can revolt it, and a good oyster cannot make him who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/a-good-oyster-cannot-please-the-palate-as-acutely-as-a-bad-one-can/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [If there is a God, I don't think He would demand that anyone bow down or stand up to Him. I often have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/if-there-is-a-god-i-don-t-think-he-would-demand-that-anyone-bow-down/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/any-authentic-work-of-art-must-start-an-argument-between-the-artist/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [... there has never been a period in history when there have been necessary killings which has not been instantly followed by a period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-has-never-been-a-period-in-history-when-there-have-been/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) [Explore all 264 Rebecca West quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) ## More Acceptance quotes > [We only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks. 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