Henri Nouwen Quotes

When I am liberated by silence, when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life, but in the living of it, I can discover a form of prayer in which there is effectively no distraction. My whole life becomes a prayer. My whole silence is full of prayer. The world of silence in which I am immersed contributes to my prayer.

The first requirement for prayer is silence. People of prayer are people of silence.

I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence-we need to listen to God because it's not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters.

Silence, you know, is the best place to get close to spirit for me.

Silence is the pause in me when I am near to God.

There is so much noise in the world! May we learn to be silent in our hearts and before God.

Prayer is not learned in a classroom but in the closet.

Above anything, welcome silence, for it brings fruits that no tongue can speak of, neither can it be explained.

No time is so well spent in every day as that which we spend upon our knees.

To pray well is the better half of study.

The root of prayer is interior silence.

Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness. Listen to God. Adore Him in the Eucharist.

Prayer needs no speech. It is in itself independent of any sensuous effort. But it must be combined with the utmost humility.

Prayer is the beginning and the end, the source and the fruit, the core and the content, the basis and the goal of all peacemaking.

My hectic work schedule does not often permit me time to visit temples, but my conversations with God don't depend on idol worship. Inside my heart, I have developed and sustained a direct communication with Him.

Do I pray? Yes. Prayer is very important to me.

For me, it is essential to have the inner peace and serenity of prayer in order to listen to the silence of God, which speaks to us, in our personal life and the history of our times, of the power of love.

While doing centering prayer, the practice is to let go of any thought or perception. The priority is to be as silent as possible and when that is not possible to let the noise of the thoughts be the sacred symbol for a while, without analyzing them.

One of the values of centering prayer is that you are not thinking about God during the time of centering prayer so you are giving God a chance to manifest. In centering prayer there are moments of peace that give the psyche a chance to realize that God may not be so bad after all. God has a chance to be himself for a change.

I think I'm a spiritual person. I don't really go to church often when services are on, but I like going in when they are empty and quiet, and just sitting there and thinking for a little while.

I am a very spiritual person. Maybe not traditionally religious in terms of Sunday Mass every week, that sort of thing.

You don't necessarily have to be religious to pray.

If we really want to achieve true prayer, we must turn our backs upon everything temporal, everything external, everything that is not divine.

Prayer is where the action is.

Prayer is the most important thing that I do.