Humans Quotes by Henri Nouwen

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

— Henri Nouwen

Learning to weep, learning to keep vigil, learning to wait for the dawn. Perhaps this is what it means to be human.

— Henri Nouwen

Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.

— Henri Nouwen

Prayer is not a pious decoration of life but the breath of human existence.

— Henri Nouwen

Solitude does not pull us away from our fellow human beings but instead makes real fellowship possible.

— Henri Nouwen

...the word that seems best to summarize the desire of the human heart is 'communion.' ...wherever we look it is communion that…

— Henri Nouwen

No one person can fulfill all your needs. But the community can truly hold you. The community can let you experience the…

— Henri Nouwen

We are called to be fruitful - not successful, not productive, not accomplished. Success comes from strength, stress, and human effort. Fruitfulness…

— Henri Nouwen

Each individual human being can claim the Spirit of Jesus as the guiding spirit of his or her life. In that Spirit…

— Henri Nouwen

Feelings of guilt dominate our work as peacemakers we cannot last long. But when we have opened each other's eyes to the…

— Henri Nouwen

...When you can look into the face of human beings and you have enough light to recognize them as your brothers and…

— Henri Nouwen

Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion…

— Henri Nouwen

It's an incredible mystery of God's love that the more you know how deeply you are loved, the more you will see…

— Henri Nouwen

Somehow, somewhere, I know that God loves me, even though I do not feel that love as I can feel a human…

— Henri Nouwen

The more I think about the human suffering in our world and my desire to offer a healing response, the more I…

— Henri Nouwen

We have probably wondered in our many lonesome moments if there is one corner in this competitive, demanding world where it is…

— Henri Nouwen

Compassion- which means, literally, "to suffer with"- is the way to the truth that we are most ourselves, not when we differ…

— Henri Nouwen

Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all…

— Henri Nouwen

Although many, we might even say most, strangers in this world become easily the victim of a fearful hostility, it is possible…

— Henri Nouwen

The life-converting experience is not the discovery that I have choices to make that determine the way I live out my existence,…

— Henri Nouwen

Indeed, when God's glory dwells in me, there is nothing too far away, nothing too painful, nothing too strange or too familiar…

— Henri Nouwen

The mystery of the spiritual life is that Jesus desires to meet us in the seclusion of our own heart, to make…

— Henri Nouwen

Joy is what makes life worth living, but for many joy seems hard to find. They complain that their lives are sorrowful…

— Henri Nouwen

Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive. It is a bond beyond common goals, common interests, or…

— Henri Nouwen

If you feel a great loneliness and a deep longing for human contact, you have to be extremely discerning...and ask yourself whether…

— Henri Nouwen

A life without a lonely place, that is, a life without a quiet center, easily becomes destructive. When we cling to the…

— Henri Nouwen

As long as our restlessness, anxiety, and feelings of guilt dominate our work as peacemakers we cannot last long. But when we…

— Henri Nouwen

What is Hope?Hope is that inner dynamic that compels us to explore and pursue the expectations built into the human condition. Hope…

— Henri Nouwen