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
Etty HillesumRead
I think what weakens people most is fear of wasting their strength.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Fear of wasting one's potential can hinder personal growth and strength.
Etty Hillesum's quote highlights how fear, especially the fear of utilizing one's abilities or strength, can be a detrimental force in a person's life. This fear can prevent individuals from taking action, pursuing their dreams, or developing their full potential, ultimately leading to stagnation and unfulfilled potential. By recognizing and overcoming this fear, individuals can empower themselves and embrace opportunities for growth and achievement.
Themes
FearStrengthPotentialGrowthCourage
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire people during motivational speeches or self-help workshops.
More from Etty Hillesum
All quotes βThinking gets you nowhere. It may be a fine and noble aid in academic studies, but you can't think your way out of emotional difficulties. That takes something altogether different. You have to make yourself passive then, and just listen. Re-establish contact with a slice of eternity.
Etty HillesumRead
The more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world.
Etty HillesumRead
We have to fight them daily, lake fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.
Etty HillesumRead
Each of us must turn inward and destroy in himself all that he thinks he ought to destroy in others.
Etty HillesumRead
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 world until we first change ourselves. And that seems to me the only lesson to be learned.
Etty HillesumRead
Similar quotes
I can't run away when I'm scared. I always have to attack. That's how I deal with seemingly difficult things.
Will SmithRead
Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow.
Dorothy ThompsonRead
It wasn't until I stood in my truth and told everybody that I had $250,000 in credit card debt. At that point, everything turned around for me. I had to reveal the truth about what I didn't have, more than pretend about what I did. That was interesting.
Suze OrmanRead
When something an affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
I could not rest, Watson, I could not sit quiet in my chair, if I thought that such a man as Professor Moriarty were walking the streets of London unchallenged.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead
The first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb, when it comes, find us doing sensible and human things -- praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts -- not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs.
C. S. LewisRead