Henri Nouwen Quotes

We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for.

If you're a person and care about other people - I don't think I have any sort of special understanding or anything, I think any feeling person would experience similar things if given the same opportunities to see the things I've been lucky enough to see and meet the people I've been lucky enough to meet.

The closer a person is to God, the closer he is to people.

There is not a soul who does not have to beg alms of another, either a smile, a handshake, or a fond eye.

God has given a great deal to man, but man would like something from man.

To be a minister means above all to become powerless, or in more precise terms, to speak with our powerlessness to the condition of powerlessness which is so keenly felt but so seldom expressed by the people of our age.

A discipline I have observed is an attitude of love and reverence to people.

Ultimately, knowing God and reading the Word, it helps with patience with people, understanding, empathy and sympathy that they might not have that I have. If God gave it to me, why not exercise it?

He who aspires to paradise should learn to deal with people with kindness.

Nothing makes one feel so strong as a call for help.

As Christians, we worship a victimized Lord. We should expect to suffer and should have particular compassion on those who hurt emotionally and physically. But we do not resemble the Suffering Servant when we take pains to show off our suffering.

Trust is to human relationships what faith is to gospel living. It is the beginning place, the foundation upon which more can be built. Where trust is, love can flourish.

Humility is becoming a lost art, but it's not difficult to practice. It means that you realize that others have been involved in your success.

It's important to recognize that forgiveness is more than mere words; it's a heart attitude that induces a spiritual transformation.

Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

I chose to present myself as one who comes from among the people, and I can be touched by their pain because I have my own.

Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play.

Refusing to ask for help when you need it is refusing someone the chance to be helpful.

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky.

Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.

If we dare to come closer to our fellow human beings, we will be able to see and understand them better.

Better to be a loving person without knowing how you got there, than an expert no one can stand to be around.

There are times we are givers, but others time we have to let others give to us.

Accept what people offer. Drink their milkshakes. Take their love.

To make the people happy, to forget their problems. Then, to me, I'm doing my job. But to act is a God gift.