Vincent van Gogh
I have… a terrible need… shall I say the word?… of religion. Then I go out at night and paint the stars. —Vincent van Gogh
Category: Dutch Culture
Henri J. M. Nouwen
The movement from loneliness to solitude should lead to a gradual conversion from an anxious reaction to a loving response. — Henri J. M. Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life ( Doubleday, 1975)
Vincent van Gogh
So instead of giving in to despair I chose active melancholy, in so far as I was capable of activity, in other words I chose the kind of melancholy that hopes, that strives and that seeks, in preference to the melancholy that despairs numbly and in distress. — Vincent van Gogh, The Letters of Vincent… Continue reading Vincent van Gogh
Henri J.M. Nouwen
A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us. ― Henri J.M. Nouwen
Henri J.M. Nouwen
Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family. ― Henri J.M. Nouwen
Vincent van Gogh
A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke. —Vincent van Gogh
Baruch Spinoza
The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure….you are above everything distressing. ― Baruch Spinoza
Anne Frank
Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. ― Anne Frank
Vincent van Gogh
Someday death will take us to another star. — Vincent van Gogh
Etty Hillesum
We have to become as simple and as wordless as the growing corn or the falling rain. We must just be. — Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life: The Diaries, 1941-1943; and Letters from Westerbork. (Picador; unknown edition, November 15, 1996)
The Vale of Soul-Making 