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’Tis the set of the soul that decides its goal and not the calm or the strife.
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“’Tis the set of the soul that decides its goal and not the calm or the strife.”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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Source
Poems of Optimism
Date
1913
Meaning

Meaning of “’Tis the set of the soul that decides…”

The nautical metaphor places direction in the stance a person adopts toward conditions, arguing that purpose can survive both ease and adversity.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Poems of Optimism, “The Winds of Fate,” first published in this collection in 1913; Project Gutenberg #7421. The statement is metaphorical poetry about agency, not a denial of material constraints or unequal circumstances.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

DecisionFailureGoalsHope Quotes About Possibility in Uncertain TimesIdentityIndependenceInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityLifeMeaning of Life Quotes About What Makes Life MatterMotivation For LifeMotivational Quotes for Action, Effort & PersistenceNever Give UpOptimism Quotes About Constructive ExpectationPositive Quotes About a Constructive OutlookPurpose Quotes About Direction, Duty & Meaningful WorkResilience Quotes About Recovery & AdaptationSelf RelianceSelf TrustShortStrengthFate
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If a man is to turn everything whatsoever into his own calm, dignity, and happiness, he must make this use even of his own failures.
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“If a man is to turn everything whatsoever into his own calm, dignity, and happiness, he must make this use even of his own failures.”

Arnold Bennett · The Human Machine · 1908
Meaning & context

Failure becomes useful when it is examined and incorporated into future conduct instead of being allowed to settle a person’s sense of dignity or possibility.

Source details

The Human Machine, discussion of using experience for self-command. Bennett’s claim is philosophical self-training advice; it does not imply that every failure is beneficial or emotionally easy.

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I came to see that, along with his disadvantages, the Negro in America had some advantages, and I made up my mind that opportunities that had been denied him from without could be more than made up by greater concentration and power within.
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“I came to see that, along with his disadvantages, the Negro in America had some advantages, and I made up my mind that opportunities that had been denied him from without could be more than made up by greater concentration and power within.”

Booker T. Washington · My Larger Education · 1911
Meaning & context

Washington argues for concentrating on agency that remains available under unequal conditions, without pretending those external disadvantages are unreal or morally acceptable.

Source details

My Larger Education, Chapter I, “Learning from Men and Things”; Project Gutenberg #73923. Washington reflects on how he came to emphasize internal discipline and concentrated effort while explicitly acknowledging externally imposed disadvantage.

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For uses, therefore, I must count worth while.
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“For uses, therefore, I must count worth while.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning · Aurora Leigh · 1856
Voice: Fictional narrator · Aurora Leigh
Meaning & context

After describing a slow return from profound loss, Aurora reconnects being alive with possible uses and reasons to continue engaging with the world.

Source details

Aurora Leigh, Book I, printed page 21 / Wikisource scan leaf 30, scan-backed Chapman and Hall third edition (London, 1857), cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #56621. After recounting bereavement and a slow return to ordinary consciousness, Aurora says, “For uses, therefore, I must count worth while.” This remains literary first-person narration about loss and renewed engagement with life, not clinical advice or a recovery benchmark.

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It had need of me, or I would not be—I am here to strengthen the plan.
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“It had need of me, or I would not be—I am here to strengthen the plan.”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox · Poems of Power · 1903
Meaning & context

The speaker interprets existence as evidence of a role to play, turning the question of why one is here into a claim of usefulness and participation.

Source details

Poems of Power, “I Am,” published 1903; Project Gutenberg #6667. The poem is explicitly spiritual and metaphysical, so the line remains poetic purpose language rather than proof of a predetermined cosmic assignment.

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To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
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“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”

Oscar Wilde · The Soul of Man under Socialism · 1891
Meaning & context

Wilde separates deliberate individual living from merely passing through existence, making self-realization and chosen purpose part of what it means to live fully.

Source details

The Soul of Man under Socialism; Wilde develops individualism as the freedom to form a life from within rather than conform to social expectation.

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