"Amor fati" is a Latin phrase translating to "love of fate" or "love of one's fate". It describes an attitude where one embraces everything that happens in life, including suffering and loss, viewing it as good or, at the very least, necessary.
While linked to Stoic philosophers like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, Friedrich Nietzsche explicitly made "amor fati" central to his philosophy. He saw it as a formula for greatness, urging individuals to want nothing to be different in their lives, not forward, not backward, not for all eternity. Nietzsche connected "amor fati" to the concept of "eternal recurrence," desiring to live the same life repeatedly for eternity. He saw value in even life's blunders, advocating for acceptance of reality without idealism, embracing both the good and the bad. "Amor fati" does not mean resigning to a predetermined fate, but rather focusing energy on what one can control and responding to difficulties proactively with self-compassion.
