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Etty Hillesum

Etty Hillesum Quotes

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Famous Etty Hillesum Quotes

“Slowly but surely I have been soaking Rilke up these last few months: the man, his work and his life. And that is probably the only right way with literature, with study, with people or with anything else: to let it all soak in, to let it all mature slowly inside you until it has become a part of yourself. That, too, is a growing process. Everything is a growing process. And in between, emotions and sensations that strike you like lightning. But still the most important thing is the organic process of growing.”

PeopleMenWayHas BeensStillsImportantLastsLiteratureProcessEmotionStudyGrowingMonthsImportant ThingsStrikesMatureSensationsLightningRight WaySoakingSlowly But Surely
Book:An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943
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“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.”

TwoImportantSometimesWholePrayerFiveMeditationMinutesYogaStressBreathsImportant ThingsAppreciationRelaxSelf CareRelaxationRelaxedDeep BreathRestfulRest Of LifeWork StressRejuvenationLife StressStress And LifeInspirational Stress ReliefResting And RelaxationRelaxation And StressTime To RelaxDay Of RestStress Related
Book:Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943
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“A large group of us were crowded into the Gestapo hall, and at that moment the circumstances of all our lives were the same. All of us occupied the same space, the men behind the desk no less than those about to be questioned. What distinguished each of us was only our inner attitude.”

MenMomentsPeaceSpaceBehindsAttitudeOur LivesGroupsHe ManCircumstancesDiversitySocial JusticeThat MomentHallsDesksDistinguishedCrowdedLarge GroupsGestapo
Book:Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943
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“I feel like a small battlefield in which the problems, or some of the problems, of our time are being fought out. All one can hope to do is keep oneself humbly available, to allow oneself to be a battlefield. After all, the problems must be accommodated, have somewhere to struggle and come to rest and we, poor little humans, must put our inner space at their service and not run away.”

InspirationalFeelsHumansLittlesProblemRunningSpacePoorStruggleOneselfAvailableOur TimeRunning AwayBattlefields
Book:Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943
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“Thinking gets you nowhere. It may be a fine and noble aid in academic studies, but you can't think your way out of emotional difficulties. That takes something altogether different. You have to make yourself passive then, and just listen. Re-establish contact with a slice of eternity.”

ThinkingWayMayDifferentStudyEmotionalFineEternityDifficultyNobleAidsContactAcademicPassiveJust Listen
Book:An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943
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“If one burdens the future with one's worries, it cannot grow organically. I am filled with confidence, not that I shall succeed in worldly things, but that even when things go badly for me I shall still find life good and worth living.”

IfsStillsGrowsWorryConfidenceSucceedFilledBurdenGood LifeWorldlyWorth LivingWorldly Things
Book:An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943
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“When I pray, I never pray for myself, always for others, or else I hold a silly, naive, or deadly serious dialogue with what is deepest inside me, which for the sake of convenience I call God. Praying to God for something for yourself strikes me as being too childish for words. To pray for another's well-being is something I find childish as well; one should only pray that another should have enough strength to shoulder his burden. If you do that, you lend him some of your own strength.”

IfsShouldWellsEnoughSeriousPrayingShould HaveSakeBurdenStrikesSillyShouldersDialogueWell BeingNaiveI PrayConveniencePraying To GodHelpfulness
Book:Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943
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