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About this quote

What does it mean?
True wisdom involves accepting what cannot change, having courage to change what can, and knowing the difference.
In plain terms
Accept what you cannot change, change what you can, and know the difference.
What can you take from it?
Wisdom is knowing what to control and what to accept.

Where it applies

  • personal crises
  • mental health
  • daily challenges

Putting it to work

  • practicing acceptance
  • identifying actionable items
  • cultivating calm

Questions to consider

  • What can you change today?
  • How do you find serenity?

Another view

Sometimes it is hard to know what can actually be changed.

More from Reinhold Niebuhr

  1. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

    Permalink to quote #17
  2. God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distingui…

    Permalink to quote #19
  3. The brotherhood of the community is indeed the ground in which the individual is ethically realized. But the community is the frustration as well as the realiz…

    Permalink to quote #16

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