I'm not really a fan of boiling down the complexities of life into pithy little sayings. Here's what a really smart person could do:

First, take the saying "The smart person accepts, the idiot insists" and build a strong argument in support of it.

Then, inverse it to "The idiot accepts, the smart person insists" and build an equally strong argument in support of that.

"If only they knew me and my loved ones wanted to settle" The trick I guess is knowing when you are "the idiot across the table", and when you are the posts author. I.e. If the mantra is "always accept", then why did the "idiot across the table" have a chance to blow it? By the posts logic the author would have been willing to accept