Here, beside this great black surface that is my desk, I feel as though I am on a desert island.
ETTY HILLESUMThere 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.
More Etty Hillesum Quotes
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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.
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Each of us must turn inward and destroy in himself all that he thinks he ought to destroy in others.
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It is the only thing we can do. Each of us must turn inward and destroy in himself all that he thinks he ought to destroy in others. And remember that every atom of hate that we add to this world makes it sill more inhospitable
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I’m afraid I did not pray hard enough last night.
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We have to fight them daily, lake fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.
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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.
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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.
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The externals are simply so many props; everything we need is within us.
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I would be so exhausted by my determination that I had no strength left to do the actual work.
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Never give up, never escape, take everything in, and perhaps suffer, that’s not too awful either, but never, never give up.
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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.
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How rash to assert that man shapes his own destiny. All he can do is determine his inner responses.
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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.
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One must also accept that one has ‘uncreative’ moments. The more honestly one can accept that, the quicker these moments will pass.
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We should be willing to act as a balm for all wounds.
ETTY HILLESUM