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Books, A to Z On 1 of the 12 ideas

The Serenity Prayer

Reinhold Niebuhr, as printed by Winnifred Wygal 1933

1 Echoes

Ideas we link to this book

01

Some things are up to you

Echoes, per a summary

The 1933 printing, as Wikipedia quotes it, states the split and the advice in its own words and credits no one; the Epictetus comparison is Wikipedia’s own.

  1. c. 125 CE
    “There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.”

    Epictetus, Enchiridion. Earliest we can find, about 1,810 years earlier.

  2. 1933

    Wikipedia’s account of the book: Oh, God, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what can not be helped, and insight to know the one from the other.

Secondhand, from Wikipedia. Reinhold Niebuhr, as printed by Winnifred Wygal, The Serenity Prayer (1933).

We read this 1933 printing as Wikipedia quotes it, not the printing itself.

Sources

Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer.

Quote Investigator: quoteinvestigator.com/2019/12/24/serenity.

How this page was made. We do not summarise books. A book page says which ideas the book carries and where to get it. We show no book covers, and we carry no affiliate links. How we read has the method.