Quotes from Etty Hillesum

Wanneer een S.S.-man me dood zou trappen, dan zou ik nog opkijken naar z'n gezicht en me met angstige verbazing en menselijke belangstelling afragen: Mijn God kerel, wat is er met jou allemaal voor verschrikkelijks in je leven gebeurd, dat je tot zùlke dingen komt?

When you have an interior life, it certainly doesn't matter what side of the prison fence you're on. . . I've already died a thousand times in a thousand concentration camps. I know everything. There is no new information to trouble me. One way or another, I already know everything. And yet, I find this life beautiful and rich in meaning. At every moment.

I know that those who hate have good reason to do so. But why should we always have to choose the cheapest and easiest way? It has been brought home forcibly to me here how every atom of hatred added to the world makes it an even more inhospitable place.

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

De ene mens mag de andere nooit tot middelpunt van zijn leven maken.

A desire to kneel down sometimes pulses through my body, or rather it is as if my body has been meant and made for the act of kneeling. Sometimes, in moments of deep gratitude, kneeling down becomes an overwhelming urge, head deeply bowed, hands before my face.

Pessimistische Depressionen sind als schöpferische Pausen zu betrachten, in denen sich die Kräfte wieder herstellen. Wenn man sich hiervon bewusst is, so werden die Depressionen schneller vorübergehen. Man sol sich niet deprimiert fühlen über eine Depression.

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.

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

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.

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.

If one finds the strength to deal with small things, one finds it to deal with the large ones as well.

I think what weakens people most is fear of wasting their strength.

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.

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.

Greed probably figures in my intellectual life as well, as I attempt to absorb a massive amount of information with consequent mental indigestion.

Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world.

Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world.

I think what weakens people most is fear of wasting their strength.

Every word born of an inner necessity — writing must never be anything else.

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.

We have to fight them daily, like fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.

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

We are always in search of the redeeming formula, the crystallizing thought.