Henri Nouwen Is Quotations

If fear is the great enemy of intimacy, love is its true friend.

Those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. LOVE is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.

Life is a gift to be grateful for and not a property to cling to.

Life is not a possession to be defended, but a gift to be shared.

The more you have loved and have allowed yourself to suffer because of your love, the more you will be able to let your heart grow wider and deeper. When your love is truly giving and receiving, those whom you love will not leave your heart even when they depart from you. The pain of rejection, absence, and death can become fruitful. Yes, as you love deeply the ground of your heart will be broken more and more, but you will rejoice in the abundance of the fruit it will bear.

Life is a gift, not to possess, but to share.

Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be.

Your life is not going to be easy, and it should not be easy. It ought to be hard. It ought to be radical; it ought to be restless; it ought to lead you to places you'd rather not go.

A happy life is a life for others.

The spiritual life is a reaching out to our innermost self, to our fellow human and to our God.

The Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord

As long as we have our stories there is hope.

Life is not entertainment. Life is not distraction.