Serenity prayer - wikipedia Serenity prayer The Serenity Prayer is the common name for a prayer written by the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr ( 1892 -- 1971 ). The best - known form is : God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference. Niebuhr, who first wrote the prayer for a sermon at Heath Evangelical Union Church in Heath, Massachusetts, used it widely in sermons as early as 1934 and first published it in 1951 in a magazine column. The prayer spread both through Niebuhr 's sermons and church groups in the 1930s and 1940s and was later adopted and popularized by Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve - step programs. Contents 1 Versions 2 Early history 3 Precursors 3.1 Genuine precursors 3.2 Spurious attributions 4 Use by twelve - step recovery programs 5 References 6 External links Versions The prayer has appeared in many versions. Niebuhr 's versions of the prayer were always printed as a single prose sentence ; printings that set out the prayer as three lines of verse modify the author 's original version. The most well - known form is a late version, as it includes a reference to grace not found before 1951 : God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that can not be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen. A version ( apparently quoted from memory ) appeared in the `` Queries and Answers '' column in The New York Times Book Review, July 2, 1950, p. 23, asking for the author of the quotation. A reply in the same column in the issue for August 13, 1950, p. 19, attributed the prayer to Niebuhr, quoting it as follows : O God and Heavenly Father, Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which can not be changed ; courage to change that which can be changed, and wisdom to know the one from the other, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. Some twelve - step recovery programs use a slightly different version : God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference. Early History The earliest recorded reference to the prayer is a diary entry from 1932 by Winnifred Crane Wygal, a pupil and collaborator of Reinhold Niebuhr, quoting the prayer and attributing it to Niebuhr. Several versions of the prayer then appeared in newspaper articles in the early 1930s written by, or reporting on talks given by, Wygal. In 1940, Wygal included the following form of the prayer in a book on worship, attributing it to Niebuhr : O God, give us the serenity to accept what can not be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other. Wygal was a longtime YWCA official and all early recorded usages were from women involved in volunteer or educational activities connected to the YWCA. The earliest printed reference, in 1936, mentions that during a speech, a Miss Mildred Pinkerton `` quotes the prayer, '' as if to indicate it was already in a circulation known to the reporter, or that Pinkerton relayed it as a quote, without mentioning its authorship. A 1937 Christian student publication attributed the prayer to Niebuhr in the following form, which matches the other earliest published forms in requesting `` courage to change '' before petitioning for serenity : Father, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what can not be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other. Various other authors also cited Niebuhr as the source of the prayer from 1937 on. The Federal Council of Churches ( NCC ) included the prayer in a book for army chaplains and servicemen in 1944 and the USO circulated the prayer ( with Niebuhr 's permission ) to soldiers on printed cards during World War Two. In 1950, in response to questions about the already quite widely known prayer 's provenance, Niebuhr wrote that the prayer `` may have been spooking around for years, even centuries, but I do n't think so. I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself. '' He confirmed this in 1967. His daughter, Elisabeth Sifton, thought that Niebuhr had first written it in 1943, while Niebuhr 's wife Ursula believed it had been written in 1941 or ' 42, adding that it may have been used in prayers as early as 1934. The Serenity Prayer will be listed under Niebuhr 's name in the next edition of the Yale Book of Quotations, whose author Fred R. Shapiro had first raised doubts about, but was later instrumental in confirming Niebuhr 's authorship. Precursors Numerous statements of more or less similar sentiments by other authors have been identified and it is likely that more will be found. The prayer has unfortunately also been falsely attributed to a variety of other authors. Genuine precursors Epictetus wrote : `` Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. Some things are up to us ( eph ' hêmin ) and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions -- in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our own doing. '' The 8th - century Indian Buddhist scholar Shantideva of the ancient Nalanda University suggested : If there 's a remedy when trouble strikes, What reason is there for dejection ? And if there is no help for it, What use is there in being glum ? The 11th century Jewish philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol wrote `` And they said : At the head of all understanding -- is realizing what is and what can not be, and the consoling of what is not in our power to change. '' The philosopher W.W. Bartley juxtaposes without comment Niebuhr 's prayer with a Mother Goose rhyme ( 1695 ) expressing a similar sentiment : For every ailment under the sun There is a remedy, or there is none ; If there be one, try to find it ; If there be none, never mind it. Friedrich Schiller advocated the first part in 1801 : `` Blessed is he, who has learned to bear what he can not change, and to give up with dignity, what he can not save. '' Spurious attributions The prayer has been variously attributed ( without evidence ) to Thomas Aquinas, Cicero, Augustine, Boethius, Marcus Aurelius, Francis of Assisi, and Thomas More, among others. Theodor Wilhelm, a professor of education at the University of Kiel, published a German version of the prayer under the pseudonym `` Friedrich Oetinger ''. Wilhelm 's plagiarized version of the prayer became popular in West Germany, where it was widely but falsely attributed to the 18th - century philosopher Friedrich Christoph Oetinger. Use by twelve - step recovery programs The prayer became more widely known after being brought to the attention of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1941 by an early member. AA 's co-founder and staff liked the prayer and had it printed out in modified form and handed around. It has been part of Alcoholics Anonymous ever since, and has also been used in other twelve - step programs. Grapevine, The International Journal of Alcoholics Anonymous, identified Niebuhr as the author ( January 1950, pp. 6 -- 7 ), and the AA web site continues to identify Niebuhr as the author. The original text for this adapted prayer was : Father, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what can not be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other. A slightly different version of the prayer has been widely adopted by Twelve - Step Groups : God grant us the serenity to accept the things we can not change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. '' References ^ Jump up to : Fred R. Shapiro, `` Who Wrote the Serenity Prayer ? '', The Chronicle Review April 28, 2014 Jump up ^ See, e.g., Justin Kaplan, ed., Bartlett 's Familiar Quotations 735 ( 17th ed. 2002 ) ( attributing the prayer to Niebuhr in 1943 ) ^ Jump up to : Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski, Prayer : A History Houghton Mifflin : 2005, ISBN 9780618152889. p. 127 Jump up ^ Fred R. Shapiro, Who Wrote the Serenity Prayer, Yale Alumni Magazine ( July / August 2008 ). Jump up ^ Littleton, Jeanett Gardner ; Bell, James Stuart ( 2008 ). Living the Serenity Prayer : True Stories of Acceptance, Courage, and Wisdom. Avon, MA : Adams Media. p. 14. ISBN 978 - 1 - 59869 - 116 - 0. Jump up ^ Wygel, We Plan Our Own Worship Services : Business girls practice the act and the art of group worship, New York, N.Y., The Woman 's Press : 1940 Jump up ^ Fred R. Shapiro, New Evidence, Yale Alumni Magazine ( July / August 2008 ). ^ Jump up to : The Essential Reinhold Niebuhr : Selected Essays and Addresses, Reinhold Niebuhr, edited by Robert McAfee Brown, page 251, Yale University Press ; New Ed edition ( September 10, 1987 ) Jump up ^ The Grapevine. `` The Serenity Prayer '', The International Journal of Alcoholics Anonymous, January 1950. ^ Jump up to : The Origin of our Serenity Prayer, AA History & Trivia ( visited July 14, 2008 ). Jump up ^ The Serenity Prayer : Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War, Elisabeth Sifton, page 277, W.W. Norton & Company ( January 30, 2005 ) Jump up ^ Fred R. Shapiro, You Can Quote Them, Yale Alumni Magazine ( January / February 2010 ). Jump up ^ Epictetus ( 1983 ), Handbook. Trans. Nicholas White. Indianapolis : Hackett. Section 1.1 Jump up ^ Shantideva, Padmakara Translation Group, `` The Way of the Bodhisattva '', p. 130, Ch. 6, verse 10, Shambhala Publications, ( October 14, 2008 ) Jump up ^ ' Choice of Pearls ' ( Chapter 17 ' Consciousness ' 2nd verse ) Jump up ^ W.W. Bartley, The Retreat to Commitment, p. 35, Open Court Publishing Company ; New Ed edition ( April 1990 ) ( first edition 1962 ) Jump up ^ `` Wohl dem Menschen, wenn er gelernt hat, zu ertragen, was er nicht ändern kann, und preiszugeben mit Würde, was er nicht retten kann. '' Schiller, Über das Erhabene ( Essay ) Jump up ^ Zaleski, Philip and Carol, Prayer : A History, p. 126 - 127, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006 Jump up ^ `` Alexander Dubcek -- Introduzione ''. Almapress.unibo.it. Retrieved 2013 - 03 - 14. Jump up ^ Friedrich Oetinger, Wendepunkt der poltitischen Erziehung ( 1951 ). Cf. `` The Full Serenity Prayer & Its Meaning '', SubstanceAbuseCounselor.us. Jump up ^ Sifton, p. 343ff Jump up ^ `` Stalking the Wild Serenity Prayer '', Appendix B in : Wing, Nell. Grateful to Have Been There : My 42 Years with Bill and Lois, and the Evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous. p. 167. ISBN 1 - 56838 - 064 - X. Jump up ^ NA White Booklet, Narcotics Anonymous, 1976 External links Wikiquote has quotations related to : Serenity Prayer The Essential Reinhold Niebuhr : Selected Essays and Addresses, editor : Robert McAfee Brown ( 1 ) `` Transcending and Transforming the World, '' in Niebuhr, Reinhold ( 1927 ). Does Civilization Need Religion ? A Study in the Social Resources and Limitations of Religion in Modern Life., especially pages 179 -- 81. Elisabeth Sifton, The Serenity Prayer : Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War, New York, Norton, 2003 ( 2 ). Elizabeth Sifton is Reinhold Niebuhr 's daughter. The Serenity Prayer : Faith in Times of Peace and War, National Public Radio interview with Elisabeth Sifton ( 20 mins ) January 14, 2005. ( 3 ) Archives of Grapevine : ( 4 ) Full documentation ( in German ) of false claims of authorship The Serenity Prayer origin at Alcoholics Anonymous ; same text also at The Origin of our Serenity Prayer at Alcoholics Anonymous A Buddhist version of the Serenity Prayer Reinhold Niebuhr Serenity Prayer Moral Man and Immoral Society The Nature and Destiny of Man Alcoholics Anonymous History Effectiveness Concepts Twelve Steps Twelve Traditions Higher Power Serenity Prayer Literature The Big Book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions The Little Red Book Day by Day People Bill W. Dr. Bob Jim Burwell Sister Ignatia Marty Mann Carl Jung Lois W. William Duncan Silkworth Rowland Hazard III Ebby Thacher Related Al - Anon / Alateen Alcoholism Bill Wilson House Disease theory of alcoholism Hazelden Foundation The Oxford Group Stepping Stones Charles B. Towns Drama Bill W. and Dr. Bob My Name Is Bill W. When Love Is Not Enough : The Lois Wilson Story Bill W. ( 2012 ) Category : Alcoholics Anonymous Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Serenity_Prayer&oldid=800116648 '' Categories : Alcoholics Anonymous Prayer Twelve - step programs Works by Reinhold Niebuhr Hidden categories : All articles lacking reliable references Articles lacking reliable references from January 2016 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2016 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto فارسی Français 한국어 Hrvatski Íslenska Italiano עברית 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Suomi Svenska Tsetsêhestâhese 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 11 September 2017, at 16 : 11. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who is widely considered to be the author of the serenity prayer
Answer: Reinhold Niebuhr