# God, grant me the serenity to accept the things ....



## Lauryta.*

Hello, 

Could someone help me to translate this: 

,,  God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
    Courage to change the things I can,
    And wisdom to know the difference.''


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## Scholiast

Greetings.

I know this prayer well, and love it, but unfortunately I don't know who wrote it. Ignatius? Perhaps you (or another Foreast) can help me here.

As for a Latin rendition, try this

da mihi, Domine, serenitatem, qua ea patiar, quae mutare nequeo;
da mihi robur, quo ea mutem, quae possum;
da mihi sapientiam, qua ea quae possum mutare, et quae nequeo, discernam.

It's quite unusual for Latin to turn out longer than the English equivalent. Perhaps someone else can suggest a conciser formulation.


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## Lauryta.*

,,The *Serenity Prayer is the common name for an originally untitled prayer by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. "
( *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer )


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## Scholiast

Lauryta

gratias quam maximas tibi ago. Reinholdum Niehbur iam satis cognoveram, sed ut auctorem huius orationem, adhuc nescivi.


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## lacrimae

I think this translation is shorter
 Deus/Domine, da mihi serenitatem ferendi quae non mutare  possum,
robur mutandi quae possum
et sapientiam discernendi ea


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## Scholiast

salvete omnes!

lacrimae writes (#5): 





> I think this translation is shorter
> Deus/Domine, da mihi serenitatem ferendi quae non mutare  possum,
> robur mutandi quae possum
> et sapientiam discernendi ea



Shorter, indeed. But I don't think that classical Latin at least (I will stand open to expert correction as regards mediaeval or later Latinity), will allow this compression, especially with the gerund/-ive.

At the very least, we need the purposive or final sense generated by _ad ferendum_, &c. This applies particularly to the last line, where _et sapientiam discernendi ea_ is just not Latin.

This might work:

_Domine, da mihi serenitatem ad ferenda quae non mutanda,
robur ad mutandum quod mutabile,
et sapientiam discernendi
_


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