“If you haven’t the strength to impose your own terms upon life, then you must accept the terms it offers you.”
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
T.S. Eliot 270
20th century English author 1888–1965Related quotes

Delusion for a Dragon Slayer (1966)
Context: "Heaven is what you mix all the days of your life, but you call it dreams. You have one chance to buy your Heaven with all the intents and ethics of your life. That is why everyone considers Heaven such a lovely place. Because it is dreams, special dreams, in which you exist. What you have to do is live up to them."
"I—" started Griffin, but the wizard cut him off with a blink.
"No, listen, please, because after this, all the magic stops, and you have to do it alone.
“You create your own Heaven, and you have the opportunity to live in it, but you have to do it on your own terms, the highest terms of which you are capable. So sail this ship through the straits, navigate the shoals, find the island, overcome the foam-devil that guards the girl, win her love, and you’ve played the game on your own terms."

“You get to define the terms of your life.”
Source: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

“You cannot be friends upon any other terms than upon the terms of equality.”
Address on Latin American Policy before the Southern Commercial Congress http://books.google.com/books?id=_VYEIml1cAkC&q=%22You+cannot+be+friends+upon+any+other+terms+than+upon+the+terms+of+equality%22&pg=PA19#v=onepage Mobile, Alabama (27 October 1913)
1910s
“Do your own thing on your own terms and get what you came here for”
Source: Quartered Safe Out Here (1992), p. xxiv.