“The externals are simply so many props everything we need is within us.”

“Ik zou een héél boek willen schrijven over een kiezelsteen en over een paars viooltje. Ik zou met één enkele kiezelsteen heel lang kunnen leven en een gevoel kunnen hebben in Gods machtige natuur te leven.”

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

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

“Our desire must be like a slow and stately ship sailing across endless oceans never in search of safe anchorage. Then suddenly unexpectedly it will find mooring for a moment.”

“Sometimes I try my hand at turning out small profundities and uncertain short stories but I always end up with just one single word: God.”

“The externals are simply so many props everything we need is within us.”

“That fear of missing out on things makes you miss out on everything.”

“Suffering has always been with us does it really matter in what form it comes? All that matters is how we bear it and how we fit it into our lives.”

“And here I am sitting again, yes, sitting again by this faithful lamp, feeling indescribably serene and unhurried. I shall travel this day's path quite calmly and just take a little holiday—my eyes and head are slightly overstressed and overstrained. One must have the patience to do a little less.”

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