Hadewijch of Antwerp Quotes
Hadewijch of Antwerp was a thirteenth-century Flemish Beguine mystic and philosopher, leader of a small community of beguines in the Low Countries, and the author of one of the most original and demanding bodies of mystical philosophical writing in any medieval vernacular. Her Letters, Visions, and Songs in Middle Dutch articulate a philosophy of love in which the soul, in radical exposure to the divine beloved, comes to know itself only by surrendering itself, and in which the highest knowledge is achieved not by ascetic withdrawal but by entering wholly into the suffering and the joy of love. The quotes below are attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp, organized by topic.
Hadewijch of Antwerp on God
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Attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp:
“Where God is the lover, the soul can hide nothing from God or from itself.”
Hadewijch of Antwerp on Love
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Attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp:
“Love alone gives the knowledge that love is.”
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Attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp:
“She who lives without love does not yet know what it is to live.”
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Attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp:
“The soul is at home in love when it has learned to be a stranger to everything else.”
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Attributed to Hadewijch of Antwerp:
“Pain rightly borne is the very door through which love enters.”