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Etty Hillesum

Etty Hillesum Quotes

Woman of letters

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Famous Etty Hillesum Quotes

“And I believe that I will never be able to hate any human being for his so-called 'wickedness,' that I shall only hate the evil that is within me, though hate is perhaps putting it too strongly even then. In any case, we cannot be lax enough in what we demand of others and strict enough in what we demand of ourselves.”

BelieveHumansEnoughAbleHateEvilI BelieveHuman BeingsCasesDemandStrictWickednessLax
Book:Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943
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“All disasters stem from us. Why is there a war? Perhaps because now and then I might be inclined to snap at my neighbour. Because I and my neighbour and everyone else do not have enough love. Yet we could fight war and all its excrescences by releasing each day, the love which is shackled inside us, and giving it a chance to live.”

GivingWarEnoughMightFightingChanceDisasterEach DayNow And ThenStemNeighbourSnapsEnough Love
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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