Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Inside the Heart of This Quote
You know that strange moment after something goes wrong, when the noise fades and you are just left staring at what actually happened? No more plans, no more maybes — just the outcome sitting in front of you like a messy, uneven pile. That quiet space, where you either complain or get curious, is exactly where these words are pointing.
"Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out."
The first part says: "Things turn out best for the people…" On the surface, it sounds like a simple promise: life goes more smoothly for certain people. It hints that some kind of "best" is possible — not perfection, not fantasy, but a life that, overall, feels like it works. Deeper down, it nudges you to ask: best for who? It shifts your focus away from luck or fate and quietly suggests that there is a specific kind of person whose life tends to land in a better place, regardless of outside conditions.
Then comes the second part: "…who make the best out of the way things turn out." Here, the focus changes. Now it describes those people. They do not control how things turn out. The words assume that events will unfold in their own stubborn way. Plans will break. People will disappoint you. Outcomes will be crooked, not clean. Instead of promising that you can bend reality to your will, it suggests that your power lives in what you do next, once the outcome is already here.
To "make the best out of" something is very practical. You take what you have, even if it is smaller, uglier, or more painful than what you wanted, and you start asking, "Alright, what can I still do with this?" It is like salvaging wood from a broken chair and turning it into a step stool. Emotionally, it means looking at a disappointment and searching for whatever growth, connection, or meaning might still be hidden in it.
Picture this: you spend weeks preparing for a job interview. On the day itself, your stomach is tight, your hands damp against the cool metal of the elevator rail. You give everything you have, then they email you: "We’ve decided to move forward with another candidate." You feel the drop inside your chest. If you follow these words, you let yourself feel that sting — and then you start mining the experience. You ask what you learned about interviewing, about yourself, about what you really want. Maybe you keep in touch with someone you met there. Maybe you update your portfolio. You cannot change the result, but you can reshape the meaning the result has in your life.
I love that this phrase quietly refuses to paint you as helpless, even when you lose. It says you always have one last piece of freedom: how you respond to what already is. That response, repeated over time, is what makes your life "turn out best." Not because every outcome is secretly good — some are just awful — but because you keep looking for a way to grow instead of only a reason to give up.
Still, there is a limit here, and it matters to admit it. Some events are so heavy — grief, injustice, deep trauma — that "making the best of it" can sound cold or unfair. There are experiences where the kindest thing is simply to survive, or to say, "There is no best in this, only the next small step." Even then, though, these words can live quietly in the background, not as a demand to be cheerful, but as a gentle reminder that someday, in some small way, you might still be able to build something human and honest from what you never asked for.
What Shaped These Words
Art Linkletter spoke these words in a time when many people believed strongly in self-reliance and personal responsibility, especially in North America in the mid-1900s. The world had gone through war, economic struggle, and rapid social shifts. People were dealing with sudden changes in technology, family life, and culture. There was a strong desire for reassurance that ordinary individuals still had power over their own lives.
As a radio and television host, Linkletter spent years hearing real, unpolished stories from everyday people. He watched people laugh through difficulty, improvise through embarrassment, and find humor in their own mistakes. It made sense, in that environment, to notice that life seemed to "work out" better for those who responded to setbacks with flexibility, creativity, and sometimes even laughter.
These words also reflect a wider cultural message of that era: you cannot always control the world, but you can control your attitude. The quote fits that mindset, yet it is a bit softer and more grounded. It does not promise that everything happens for a reason or that every outcome is secretly good. Instead, it places the emphasis on your ongoing effort to respond well, to adapt, to keep shaping your experience long after the event itself is over.
While the quote is widely attributed to Art Linkletter and repeated in motivational circles, exact original sourcing is not always clearly documented. Even so, the sentiment fits his public voice: practical, hopeful, and focused on how ordinary people handle whatever life throws at them.
About Art Linkletter
Art Linkletter, who was born in 1912 and died in 2010, lived through almost a full century of change. He was a Canadian-born American radio and television host, and he became famous for shows like "House Party" and "People Are Funny." Many people remember him most vividly for the unscripted, funny, and unexpectedly wise things that children said on his programs.
He grew up in difficult circumstances, including being orphaned and later adopted, and his life moved from hardship to broad public success. That journey shaped a worldview where personal response mattered just as much as circumstances. When you spend decades interviewing people live, without a script, you see again and again how some individuals can turn awkward or painful moments into something memorable and even beautiful.
Linkletter’s career unfolded during a time when television was becoming central to family life. He sat at the crossroads between everyday people and the new, polished world of mass media. His gift was bringing genuine human reactions into that space. The quote about making the best of how things turn out reflects that experience: life rarely follows the script, but something good can often be drawn from the unscripted part.
In this way, the quote is not just abstract advice. It mirrors the way Linkletter watched people show up on his programs — nervous, flawed, unscripted — and still manage to create moments that were funny, touching, and, in their own way, the "best" possible version of what actually happened.
