The fact is I don't lead a simple enough inner life. I indulge in excesses, bacchanalia of the spirit. Perhaps I identify too much with everything I read and study. Someone like Dostoevsky still shatters me. — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
A large group of us were crowded into the Gestapo hall, and at that moment the circumstances of all our lives were the same.… — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
Every word born of an inner necessity - writing must never be anything else. — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
That fear of missing out on things makes you miss out on everything. — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
There are moments when I feel like giving up or giving in, but I soon rally again and do my duty as I see… — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
Here, beside this great black surface that is my desk, I feel as though I am on a desert island. — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
The externals are simply so many props; everything we need is within us. — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
If one finds the strength to deal with small things, one finds it to deal with the large ones as well. — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
All disasters stem from us. Why is there a war? Perhaps because now and then I might be inclined to snap at my neighbour.… — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths. — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
We human beings cause monstrous conditions, but precisely because we cause them we soon learn to adapt ourselves to them. Only if we become such that we can no longer adapt ourselves, only if, deep inside, we rebel against every kind of evil, will we be able to put a stop to it. ... while everything within us does not… — Etty Hillesum Copy Share
Sometimes my day is crammed full of people and talk and yet I have the feeling of living in utter peace and quiet. And… — Etty Hillesum Copy Share Image
