Quote

People are reluctant to talk about old age and death because they are afraid of emotion, and they willingly avoid the things they feel most emotional about, though these are the very things they most need to talk about.

Paul Tournier

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Paul Tournier
Age: 88 †
Born: 1898
Born: May 12
Died: 1986
Died: October 7
Physician
Physician Writer
Genève
Things
Talk
People
Though
Age
Willingly
Death
Reluctant
Need
Avoid
Feel
Afraid
Feels
Emotional
Needs
Emotion

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The real meaning of travel, like that of a conversation by the fireside, is the discovery of oneself through contact with other people, and its condition is self-commitment in the dialogue.
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In order to really understand, we need to listen, not reply. We need to listen long and attentively. In order to help anybody to open his heart we have to give him time, asking only a few questions, as carefully as possible in order to help him better explain his experience.
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...the highest sign of friendship is that of giving another the privilege of sharing your inner thought.
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The most tragic consequence of our criticism of a man is to block his way to humiliation and grace, precisely to drive him into the mechanisms of self justification and into his faults instead of freeing him from them. For him, our voice drowns the voice of God.
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Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.
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If there had been no fear of failure, neither would there be any joy in success.
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Marriage teaches you loyalty, forbearance, self-restraint, meekness, and a great many other things you wouldn't need if you had stayed single.
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Most illnesses do not, as is generally thought, come like a bolt out of the blue. The ground is prepared for years through faulty diet, intemperance, overwork, and moral conflicts, slowly eroding the subject's vitality.
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At the heart of personality is the need to feel a sense of being lovable without having to qualify for that acceptance.
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The price that has to be paid for finding truly personal life is a very high one. It is a price in terms of the acceptance of responsibility. And the awareness of responsibility inevitably leads either to despair or to confession and grace.
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Woe to the man who tries to remain objective and to maintain a wide perspective: every one will label him as an enemy.
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Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets.
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The more refined and subtle our minds, the more vulnerable they are.
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We do not posses God. We find him periodically.
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The really important thing in life is not the avoidance of mistakes, but the obedience of faith. By obedience, the man is led step by step to correct his errors, whereas nothing will ever happen to him if he doesn't get going.
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The worst thing is not being wrong, but being sure one is not wrong.
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Let us not seek to bring religion to others, but let us endeavor to live it ourselves.
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We are always looking for a grand program of action full of great ideas, when the thing is to begin by obeying the little ideas.
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Your manner of life now is already determining your life in those years of old age and retirement, without your realizing it even, and perhaps without your giving enough thought to it. One must therefore prepare oneself for retirement.
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Sickness may be the solemn occasion of God's intervention in a person's life.
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