Learning from trouble

     "There is always trouble. One learns to live with it. A man grows through enduring."
     "Is that why you go to sea?"
     He chuckled. "Of course not. I go to sea because it is a means to a living. Nobody in his right mind invites difficulties; you simply cope with those that do arise. But you don't try to avoid your duties. As far as the sea is concerned, you learn to live with the sea or you don't last. You simply try to conform."
     "What about people? Do you conform there, too?"
     "Whenever I can, of course. Why not? Most rules whether of law or good breeding are simply made to enable men to live together with less friction. If one lives with people he must always conform, to a degree. I see no harm in that, and lose nothing by it."

(from The Californios, by Louis Lamour)