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An Interrupted Life: The Diaries, 1941-1943; and Letters from Westerbork

Book by Etty Hillesum · 9 quotes · Acceptance, God, Life

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An Interrupted Life: The Diaries, 1941-1943; and Letters from Westerbork Quotes

“Oh God, I thank You for having created me as I am. I thank You for the sense of fulfillment I sometimes have; that fulfillment is after all nothing but being filled with You. I promise You to strive my whole life long for beauty and harmony and also humility and true love, whispers of which I hear inside me during my best moments.”

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Book:An Interrupted Life: The Diaries, 1941-1943; and Letters from Westerbork
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“Then suddenly it drops away, all of it, and a benevolent tiredness enters the brain, then everything feels calm again, then I am filled with a sort of bountifulness, even toward myself, and a veil envelops me through which life seems more serene and often much friendlier as well. And a feeling of being at one with all existence. No longer: I want this or that, but: Life is great and good and fascination and eternal, and if you dwell so much on yourself and flounder and fluff about, you miss the mighty, eternal current that is life. It is in these moments--and I am grateful for them--that all personal ambition drops away from me, that my thirst for knowledge and understanding comes to rest, and that a small piece of eternity descends on me with a sweeping wingbeat.”

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Book:An Interrupted Life: The Diaries, 1941-1943; and Letters from Westerbork
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“That is your disease: you want to capture life in formulas of your own. You want to embrace all aspects of life with your intellect instead of allowing yourself to be embraced by life. You want to create the world all over again each time, instead of enjoying it as it is.”

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Book:An Interrupted Life: The Diaries, 1941-1943; and Letters from Westerbork
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“I never worry about tomorrow. For instance I know I am going to have to leave here very soon, and I haven't the faintest idea where I'll end up or how I shall earn my living, but I know that something will turn up. 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.”

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Book:An Interrupted Life: The Diaries, 1941-1943; and Letters from Westerbork
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