We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided.

The sentence expresses a pragmatic, stoic attitude toward misfortune: some harms are inevitable, and wisdom lies in responding constructively rather than wasting energy on resentment or denial. Read in a Hamiltonian key, it aligns with a statesman’s emphasis on necessity, compromise, and managing constraints—turning unavoidable setbacks into something serviceable through discipline and policy. The moral force of the line is not resignation but adaptive agency: accepting limits is the precondition for effective action. It also implies a distinction between avoidable and unavoidable “ills,” urging responsibility where change is possible while cultivating endurance where it is not.