Henri Nouwen Quotes

Why you exist, says Nietzsche with Søren Kierkegaard, nobody in the world can tell you in advance; but since you do exist, try to give your existence a meaning by setting up for yourself as lofty and noble a goal as you can.

I believe that each of us comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory. So at this wonderful, young age of 65, I don't know yet what the Lord has for me to do. I try to live up to the energy and to the calling, but I wouldn't dare say I have even scratched the surface yet.

I started making some proper decisions, getting things in order. It's kind of like cleaning up your house. I was looking for direction for what God wanted me to do - and that's when I got a call about The Passion.

Religion survives because it answers three questions that every reflective person must ask. Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live?

A well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.

Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.

The ultimate meaning of the Bible escapes human limits and calls us to a recognition that every life is holy, every life is loved, and every life is called to be all that that life is capable of being.

Life is not just food, it's something spiritual.

The way I'm seeing it, God has given me all this for me to realize that this isn't what I really need in my life.

I know that God has a plan for my life.

Son, are you happy? I don't mean to pry, but do you dream of Heaven? Have you ever wanted to die?

At least to look back over their own lives, as I have looked back over mine, for certain themes and patterns and signals that are so easy to miss when you're caught up in the process of living them. If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think he speaks to us largely through what happens to us, so listen to what has happened to you-for the sound, above all else, of his voice.

God speaks in the language you know best - not through your ears, but through your circumstances.

How do you find the divine power in yourself? The word enthusiasm means 'filled with a god,' so what makes you enthusiastic? Follow it. So I have a little word: follow your bliss. The bliss is the message of God to yourself. That's where your life is.

If you've ever felt inspired by a purpose or calling, you know the feeling of spirit working through you.

Whenever you do something without asking yourself, "Why am I doing this?"-that is meaningless life... . The "why" of life makes it meaningful... . Only when an answer is given is one living life as a man.

It is a life of FAITH, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us “go.

God has always been the head of my life, even before I knew it.

Your life is a gift and how you respond to it - what you do with it matters. That's where I start.

Think about it, there must be higher love Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above Without it, life is a wasted time Look inside your heart, I'll look inside mine.

... life falls into place only with God.

The biggest questions that always have perplexed me are "Where do I come from?" and "Where am I going?" The "Where do I come from?" question, which I think I largely am answering now, is about what quantum physics teaches us. If you try to find your source, you are not going to find it in a tiny little particle that began with your parents commingling.

What would God have me do with my life?

Just because I don't understand god's plans does not mean that he is not with me.

I realize that the curriculum is my life on any given day. At this point, more than anything, my spiritual path means looking at every circumstance and trying to see my part in where it's good and where it's not so good.