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Words of Wisdom

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: “People are like stained-glass windows…”

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."

Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926-2004) was an American psychiatrist most famous for her book On Death and Dying which first introduced the five stages of grief. Born in Switzerland, Kübler-Ross graduated from the University of Zürich medical school in 1957 and moved to the United States with her American husband. There, she took up psychiatry and became heavily invested in the study of death and grieving. At various times during her life, Kübler-Ross was a proponent of hospice care, spiritualism, mediumship, and holistic healing. She died in 2004 after a series of strokes nine years prior had rendered her partially paralyzed.

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

As quoted in The Leader’s Digest : Timeless Principles for Team and Organization (2003) by Jim Clemmer, p. 84 (h/t WikiQuote)


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