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Quote#God & Faith

True it is that we can only create a heaven for ourselves and others…

Quote byFlorence Nightingale · 1820–1910

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Notes from Devotional Authors of the Middle Ages (1873-1874), This last passage was published in 1913 using "The way to live with God is to live with ideas", but within the context of the statement this appears to be a typographical error, and subsequent publications quoting it in 1914, 1925 and 201.

English (original)

True it is that we can only create a heaven for ourselves and others "by the merits of Another," since it is only by working in accordance with God's Laws that we can do anything. But there is nothing at all in these prayers as if God's anger had to be bought off, as if He had to be bribed into giving us heaven by sufferings merely "to satisfy God's justice."

— Florence Nightingale

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