Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Saying ·101 of 348
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…"
They never said that.
What people say
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…"
What was actually said
"Father, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other." Reinhold Niebuhr — Reinhold Niebuhr, 1943 (earliest verified version)
Why it stuck
Niebuhr's 1943 sermon uses "courage" first, then "serenity." The AA liturgy reorders them, and the "God grant me" opener is a smoothed simplification of Niebuhr's "Father, give us."
Niebuhr's daughter, Elisabeth Sifton, documented the authorship in The Serenity Prayer (2003).
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.