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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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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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If there had been no fear of failure, neither would there be any joy in success.
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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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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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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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Christian faith does not involve repressing one's anxiety in order to appear strong. On the contrary, it means recognizing one's weakness, accepting the inward truth about oneself, confessing one's anxiety, and still to believe, that is to say that the Christian puts his trust not in his own strength, but in the grace of God.
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Our task is to live our personal communion with Christ with such intensity as to make it contagious.
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It is quite clear that between love and understanding there is a very close link...He who loves understands, and he who understands loves. One who feels understood feels loved, and one who feels loved feels sure of being understood.
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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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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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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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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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Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.
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We do not posses God. We find him periodically.
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Sickness may be the solemn occasion of God's intervention in a person's life.
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The more refined and subtle our minds, the more vulnerable they are.
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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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Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets.
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