Jan Schultz > Jan's Quotes

“Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them. ”
― John Updike

“Teaching, therefore, asks first of all the creation of a space where students and teachers can enter into a fearless communication with each other and allow their respective life experiences to be their primary and most valuable source of growth and maturation. It asks for a mutual trust in which those who teach and those who want to learn can become present to each other, not as opponents, but as those who share in the same struggle and search for the same truth.”
― Henri Nouwen

“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, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World

“Every time you close another door—be it the door of immediate satisfaction, the door of distracting entertainment, the door of busyness, the door of guilt and worry, or the door of self-rejection—you commit yourself to go deeper into your heart and thus deeper into the heart of God.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom

“birthdays need to be celebrated. i think it is more important to celebrate a birthday than a successful exam or promotion or a victory. because to celebrate a birthday means to say to someone "thank you for being you".”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Here and Now: Living in the Spirit

“Gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are a Devine choice.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

“To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives—the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections—that requires hard spiritual work.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith

“Getting answers to my questions is not the goal of the spiritual life. Living in the presence of God is the greater call.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life

“Those you have deeply loved become part of you. The longer you live, there will always be more people to be loved by you and to become part of your inner community. The wider your inner community becomes, the more easily you will recognize your own brothers and sisters in the strangers around you.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom

“I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted; then I realized that the interruptions were my work.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Turn My Mourning into Dancing: Finding Hope in Hard Times