“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean 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. 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 curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”
Out of Solitude
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Henri Nouwen 23
Dutch priest and writer 1932–1996Related quotes

“If we only have love
We can reach those in pain
We can heal all our wounds
We can use our own names.”
Translations and adaptations, If We Only Have Love (1968)

“We can heal all our wounds
We can use our own names.”
If Only We Have Love (1957)
Context: If we only have love
We can reach those in pain
We can heal all our wounds
We can use our own names.

As quoted in Beverley Male (1982) Revolutionary Afghanistan: A Reappraisal, page 183