Etty Hillesum
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"Esther "Etty" Hillesum" was a Jewish woman whose letters and diaries, kept between 1941 and 1943, describe life in Amsterdam during the The Netherlands in World War II/German occupation. They were published posthumously in 1981.

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We have to fight them daily, like fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.

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I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply molding one's inner life. And that too is a deed.

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One must also accept that one has 'uncreative' moments. The more honestly one can accept that, the quicker these moments will pass.

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We are always in search of the redeeming formula, the crystallizing thought.

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Greed probably figures in my intellectual life as well, as I attempt to absorb a massive amount of information with consequent mental indigestion.

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Life cannot be captured in a few axioms. And that is just what I keep trying to do. But it won't work, for life is full of endless nuances and cannot be captured in just a few formulae.

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I would . . . be so exhausted by my determination that I had no strength left to do the actual work.

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Every day I shall put my papers in order and every day I shall say farewell. And the real farewell, when it comes, will only be a small outward confirmation of what has been accomplished within me from day to day.

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After each creative act one has to be sustained by one's strength of character, by a moral sense, by I don't know what, lest one tumble.

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I think what weakens people most is fear of wasting their strength.

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Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.

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Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world.

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