Etty Hillesum Quotes - Page 2

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Desire Determination Energy Fighting Giving Peace Study

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.

Etty Hillesum

Peace, Attitude, Men

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.258, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

65 Copy quote
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.

Etty Hillesum

Silly, Should Have, Sake

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.494, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

30 Copy quote
There are moments when I feel like giving up or giving in, but I soon rally again and do my duty as I see it: to keep the spark of life inside me ablaze.

Etty Hillesum

Determination, Giving Up, Persistence

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.498, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

43 Copy quote
That I should die next week, I would still be able to sit at my desk all week and study with perfect equanimity, for I know now that life and death make a meaningful whole.

Etty Hillesum

Meaningful, Acceptance, Next Week

Etty Hillesum (1985). “An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”

50 Copy quote
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.

Etty Hillesum

Confidence, Good Life, Worry

Etty Hillesum (1983). “An interrupted life: the diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, Lester & Orpen Dennys

19 Copy quote
And now that I don't want to own anything any more and am free, now I suddenly own everything, now my inner riches are immeasurable.

Etty Hillesum

Want, Riches

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.25, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

21 Copy quote
I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply molding one’s inner life. And that too is a deed.

Etty Hillesum

Believe, Creativity, Writing

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.318, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

18 Copy quote
The externals are simply so many props; everything we need is within us.

Etty Hillesum

Needs, Props

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.463, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

12 Copy quote
Suffering has always been with us; does it really matter in what form it comes? All that matters is how we bear it and how we fit it into our lives.

Etty Hillesum

Suffering, Doe, Matter

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.460, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

15 Copy quote
I know and share the many sorrows a human being can experience, but I do not cling to them; they pass through me, like life itself, as a broad eternal stream...and life continues.

Etty Hillesum

Sorrow, Share, Broads

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.308, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

10 Copy quote
Sometimes I long for a convent cell, with the sublime wisdom of centuries set out on bookshelves all along the wall and a view across the cornfields--there must be cornfields and they must wave in the breeze--and there I would immerse myself in the wisdom of the ages and in myself. Then I might perhaps find peace and clarity. But that would be no great feat. It is right here, in this very place, in the here and the now, that I must find them.

Etty Hillesum

Wall, Views, Cells

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.71, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

20 Copy quote
I don't think I have nerves of steel, far from it, but I can certainly stand up to things. I am not afraid to look suffering straight in the eyes.

Etty Hillesum

Eye, Thinking, Suffering

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.545, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

32 Copy quote
To live fully, outwardly and inwardly, not to ignore the external reality for the sake of the inner life, or the reverse, that's quite a task

Etty Hillesum

Reality, Tasks, Sake

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.53, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

14 Copy quote
That fear of missing out on things makes you miss out on everything.

Etty Hillesum

Missing, Missing Out

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.146, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

14 Copy quote
Every word born of an inner necessity - writing must never be anything else.

Etty Hillesum

Writing, Born

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.341, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

16 Copy quote
Every day I shall put my papers in order and every day I shall say farewell. And the real farewell, when it comes, will only be a small outward confirmation of what has been accomplished within me from day to day.

Etty Hillesum

Love, Real, Farewell

25 Copy quote
Sometimes my day is crammed full of people and talk and yet I have the feeling of living in utter peace and quiet. And the tree outside my window, in the evenings, is a greater experience than all those people put together.

Etty Hillesum

People, Tree, Feelings

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.305, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

18 Copy quote
Sometimes I try my hand at turning out small profundities and uncertain short stories, but I always end up with just one single word: God.

Etty Hillesum

God, Hands, Trying

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.640, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

12 Copy quote
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.

Etty Hillesum

Hate, Believe, Evil

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.307, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

26 Copy quote
Life is good, after all...and that's what stays with me, even now, even when I'm about to be packed off to Poland.

Etty Hillesum

Life, Poland, Stay With Me

14 Copy quote
Become simple and live simply, not only within yourself but also in your everyday dealings. Don’t make ripples all around you, don’t try to be interesting, keep your distance, be honest, fight the desire to be thought fascinating by the outside world.

Etty Hillesum

Distance, Fighting, Simple

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.315, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

28 Copy quote
The fact is I don't lead a simple enough inner life. I indulge in excesses, bacchanalia of the spirit. Perhaps I identify too much with everything I read and study. Someone like Dostoevsky still shatters me.

Etty Hillesum

Simple, Indulge In, Excess

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.93, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

14 Copy quote
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.

Etty Hillesum

Men, People, Important

Etty Hillesum (1983). “An interrupted life: the diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, Lester & Orpen Dennys

7 Copy quote
One must also accept that one has 'uncreative' moments. The more honestly one can accept that, the quicker these moments will pass.

Etty Hillesum

Moments, Accepting, Honestly

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.549, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

19 Copy quote
After each creative act one has to be sustained by one's strength of character, by a moral sense, by I don't know what, lest one tumble.

Etty Hillesum

Character, Creative, Moral

Etty Hillesum, K. A. D. Smelik, Arnold Pomerans (2002). “Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943”, p.296, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

5 Copy quote

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Etty Hillesum

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Born: January 15, 1914
Died: November 30, 1943
Occupation: Woman of letters
Cite this Page: Citation

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