50 Henri Nouwen Quotes (Author Of Life of the Beloved)

Henri Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest and one of the most influential spiritual writers of the 20th century. Through his famous books including Life of the Beloved, The Wounded Healer, The Return of the Prodigal Son, and In The Name Of Jesus, Nouwen explored profound themes such as love, peace, gratitude, faith, God, and the importance of community. His insightful reflections on the human condition continue to inspire countless individuals seeking to live a more compassionate and fulfilling life. Here are the best Henri Nouwen quotes to guide you on your spiritual journey and foster personal growth.

Born on January 24, 1932, in Nijkerk, the Netherlands, Nouwen was ordained as a priest in 1957. His passion for understanding the human psyche led him to pursue studies in psychology, which deeply influenced his compassionate approach to pastoral care and ministry.

Throughout his distinguished career, Nouwen taught at prestigious institutions such as the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School, and Harvard Divinity School.

Despite his credentials, Nouwen found his true calling working with L’Arche, a community dedicated to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

His experiences at L’Arche shaped his writings, where he emphasized humility, empathy, and the transformative power of compassion in daily life.

Nouwen’s teachings have inspired readers worldwide helping them to embrace vulnerability, practice gratitude, and understand that our wounds can be sources of strength.

So, if you are looking for answers to your questions, seeking solace, or wanting to make a deeper connection with the divine, then these powerful Henri Nouwen quotes will surely guide you on your path toward wholeness.

T0p 10 Henri Nouwen Quotes

1. “Community is where humility and glory touch.” — Henri Nouwen

   
2. “Every time you reject yourself, you idealize others.” ― Henri Nouwen  

   

3. “The only feelings that do not heal are the ones you hide.” — Henri Nouwen  

   

4. “Our greatest fulfillment lies in giving ourselves to others.” — Henri Nouwen 

   

5. “The greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection.” — Henri Nouwen 

   

6. “God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful or painful.” — Henri Nouwen, Here and Now       

   

7. “What makes us human is not our mind but our heart, not our ability to think but our ability to love.” — Henri Nouwen
8. “You don’t think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking.” — Henri Nouwen          

   

9. “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen            

   

10. “For Jesus, there are no countries to be conquered, no ideologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated. There are only children, women and men to be loved.” — Henri Nouwen

Inspiring Henri JM Nouwen Quotes

1. “Forgiveness changes the way we remember.” — Henri Nouwen
2. “Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved.” — Henri Nouwen
3. “The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it.” — Henri Nouwen
4. “Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen
5. “Pay attention to the people God puts in your path if you want to discern what God is up to in your life.” — Henri Nouwen
6. “Gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are not an “accident” but a divine choice.” — Henri Nouwen
7. “The fruits of your labors may be reaped two generations from now. Trust, even when you don’t see the results.” — Henri Nouwen
8. “Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the Beloved.” — Henri Nouwen
9. “One of the main tasks of theology is to find words that do not divide but unite, that do not create conflict but unity, that do not hurt but heal.” — Henri Nouwen
10. “Community means that people come together around the table, not just to feed their bodies, but to feed their minds and their relationships.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen
11. “Every time we decide to be grateful it will be easier to see new things to be grateful for. Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen
12. “The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen
13. “Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God’s eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God’s heart.” — Henri Nouwen
14. “The mystery of God’s love is not that our pain is taken away, but that God first wants to share that pain with us. Out of this divine solidarity comes new life.” — Henri Nouwen
15. “In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds.” — Henri Nouwen
16. “Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.” — Henri Nouwen

Famous Quotes By Henri Nouwen

1. “This brief lifetime is my opportunity to receive love, deepen love, grow in love, and give love.” — Henri Nouwen
2. “Gratitude goes beyond the ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift.” — Henri Nouwen
3. “Our glory is hidden in our pain, if we allow God to bring the gift of himself in our experience of it.” — Henri Nouwen
4. “If you feel loved, you can do a thousand things. If you feel rejected, everything becomes a problem.” — Henri Nouwen
5. “Spiritual identity means we are not what we do or what people say about us. And we are not what we have. We are the beloved daughters and sons of God.” — Henri Nouwen
6. “Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen
7. “Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” — Henri Nouwen
8. “The real enemies of our life are the ‘oughts’ and the ‘ifs.’ They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future. But real life takes place in the here and now.” — Henri Nouwen
9. “Who am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going?-are not questions with an answer but questions that open us up to new questions which lead us deeper into the unshakeable mystery of existence.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen
10. “The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing… not healing, not curing… that is a friend who cares.” — Henri Nouwen
11. “We are called to be fruitful – not successful, not productive, not accomplished. Success comes from strength, stress, and human effort. Fruitfulness comes from vulnerability and the admission of our own weakness.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen
12. “Hope is willing to leave unanswered questions unanswered and unknown futures unknown. Hope makes you see God’s guiding hand not only in the gentle and pleasant moments but also in the shadows of disappointment and darkness.” — Henri Nouwen
13. “Our life is full of brokenness – broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives.” — Henri Nouwen
14. “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.” — Henri Nouwen
15. “Solitude is very different from a ‘time-out’ from our busy lives. Solitude is the very ground from which community grows. Whenever we pray alone, study, read, write, or simply spend quiet time away from the places where we interact with each other directly, we are potentially opened for a deeper intimacy with each other.” — Henri Nouwen

Best Henri Nouwen Quotes From His Books

1. “The way to ‘God alone’ is seldom traveled alone.” — Henri Nouwen, The Genesee Diary
2. “It is God’s glory that becomes visible in a loving community.” — Henri Nouwen, The Genesee Diary
3. “A spiritual life cannot be formed without discipline, practice, and accountability.” — Henri Nouwen, Spiritual Direction
4. “We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new.” — Henri Nouwen, Here and Now
5. “When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions.” — Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved
6. How can we prepare ourselves for our death in such a way that our dying will be a new way for us to send our and God’s spirit to those whom we have loved and who have loved us?” — Henri Nouwen, Our Greatest Gift
7. “The spiritual life is not a life before, after, or beyond our everyday existence. No, the spiritual life can only be real when it is lived in the midst of the pains and joys of the here and now.” — Henri Nouwen, Making All Things New
8. “Through this common search, hospitality becomes community. Hospitality becomes community as it creates a unity based on the shared confession of our basic brokenness and on a shared hope.” — Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer
9. “Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.” — Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
10. “It is into this deeply tired world of ours that God sends Jesus to speak the voice of love. Jesus says, ‘Follow me. Don’t keep running around. Follow me. Don’t just sit there. Follow me.’ The voice of love is the voice that can completely reshape our life from a wandering or just-sitting-there life to one that is focused and has a point to go to.” — Henri Nouwen, Following Jesus
11. “Home is the center of my being where I can hear the voice that says: ‘You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests’—the same voice that gave life to the first Adam and spoke to Jesus, the second Adam; the same voice that speaks to all the children of God and sets them free to live in the midst of a dark world while remaining in the light.” — Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son
12. “Maybe it is exactly the experience of loneliness that allows us to describe the first tentative lines of solitude. Maybe it is precisely the shocking confrontation with our hostile self that gives us words to speak about hospitality as a real option, and maybe we will never find the courage to speak about prayer as a human vocation without the disturbing discovery of our own illusions.” — Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out
13. “For all ministers are called to recognize the sufferings of their time in their own hearts, and make to that recognition the starting point of their service. Whether we try to enter into a dislocated world, relate to a convulsive generation, or speak to a dying world, our service will not be perceived as authentic unless it becomes from a heart wounded by the suffering about which we speak.” — Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer

Conclusion

What are your favorite Henri Nouwen quotes and sayings (with images, posters, and pictures) that has inspired you the most? If there is a quote that we’ve missed then let us know in the comments section what your thoughts are.

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