I would be so exhausted by my determination that I had no strength left to do the actual work.
Etty HillesumSometimes 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.
Etty HillesumAfter 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 HillesumEach of us must turn inward and destroy in himself all that he thinks he ought to destroy in others.
Etty HillesumI donโt want to be anything special. I only want to try to be true to that in me which seeks to fulfill its promise.
Etty HillesumI feel like a small battlefield in which the problems, or some of the problems, of our time are being fought out. All one can hope to do is keep oneself humbly available, to allow oneself to be a battlefield. After all, the problems must be accommodated, have somewhere to struggle and come to rest and we, poor little humans, must put our inner space at their service and not run away.
Etty Hillesum