How rash to assert that man shapes his own destiny. All he can do is determine his inner responses.

- Etty Hillesum

I really see no other solution than to turn inwards and to root out all the rottenness there. I no longer believe that we can change anything in the …

- Etty Hillesum

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 …

- Etty Hillesum

Sometimes I feel that every word spoken and every gesture made merely serve to exacerbate misunderstandings. Then what I would really like is to esca…

- Etty Hillesum

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

- Etty Hillesum

ought we not, from time to time, open ourselves up to cosmic sadness? ... Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for…

- Etty Hillesum

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 tha…

- Etty Hillesum

By 'coming to terms with life' I mean: the reality of death has become a definite part of my life; my life has, so to speak, been extended by death, …

- Etty Hillesum

Before, I always lived in anticipation . . . that it was all a preparation for something else, something "greater," more "genuine." But that feeling …

- Etty Hillesum