You've probably seen it on a coffee mug. Or maybe a Pinterest board. "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." It’s the ultimate spiritual band-aid. It’s comforting, sure, but honestly? Most people using quotes Julian of Norwich left behind are missing the point entirely.
She wasn't a hallmark card writer. She was a woman who lived in a literal stone cell, watching a plague-ravaged city through a slit in the wall.
When Julian wrote those words in the 14th century, half the people in her city—Norwich—were dying of the Black Death. She wasn't talking about a "good vibes only" lifestyle. She was talking about surviving the end of the world.
The Hazelnut and the End of Anxiety
One of the most famous images in her book, Revelations of Divine Love, involves a tiny hazelnut. Julian says God showed her something small, "no bigger than a hazelnut," lying in the palm of her hand.
She looked at it and thought: What can this be?
She was terrified it would just... crumble. It was so small, so fragile. But then she realized it lasts, and will last forever, because God loves it.
Basically, Julian was saying that everything in the universe—you, me, the stars, your annoying neighbor—is as small and vulnerable as a nut in a giant’s hand. But we don't vanish. We stay. Why? Because we are "made, loved, and kept."
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If you've ever felt like the world is too big and you’re too small to matter, Julian’s hazelnut quote is the 600-year-old remedy for that specific brand of existential dread. It’s not about being powerful; it’s about being held.
Why She Called Jesus "Mother"
This is where Julian gets kinda radical. Long before modern debates about gender and divinity, Julian was casually calling Jesus "our true Mother."
"As we know, our own mother bore us only into pain and dying. But our true mother, Jesus, who is all love, bears us into joy and endless living."
She didn't do this to be edgy. For her, it was common sense. A mother feeds her child from her own body. In Julian’s theology, that’s exactly what the Eucharist is. A mother protects her child even when they’re being a total brat. To Julian, God's love was more maternal than paternal—nurturing, fierce, and physically connected to us.
She saw no wrath in God. None. That was a massive deal in the Middle Ages when everyone was terrified of a vengeful God who sent plagues to punish sinners. Julian looked at the same plague and saw a Mother who was grieving with her children.
"Sin is Behovely" (The Quote We Love to Ignore)
We usually skip the first part of the "All shall be well" quote. The full version starts with: "Sin is behovely." "Behovely" is a weird Middle English word that basically means "necessary" or "inevitable."
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Julian was obsessed with the problem of evil. She asked God: Why didn't you just make a world without sin? If there was no sin, everything would have been fine from the start, right?
The answer she got wasn't a lecture on free will. It was an assurance that even the messiest, darkest parts of being human—our failures, our "falling"—are part of the process. She wrote that we need to fall and we need to know it. If we never fell, we’d never know how weak we are, and we’d never experience the "marvelous love" of being picked back up.
The Secret to the "Julian Prayer"
People often ask how to use quotes Julian of Norwich for meditation. Honestly, she’d probably tell you to stop overcomplicating it. She had this concept called "oneing."
It’s the idea that there is no gap between your soul and God.
- The Little Thing: Start by visualizing the hazelnut. Realize you are that small, but that significant.
- The Homely God: Julian used the word "homely" (familiar/intimate) to describe God. Imagine a God who isn't a judge on a throne, but a friend sitting at your kitchen table.
- The Unbroken Knot: She believed the soul is "knotted" to God in a way that can’t be undone. Even when you feel disconnected, the knot is still there.
How to Actually Live Like an Anchorite (Without the Cell)
Julian lived as an anchorite, meaning she was "anchored" to a church. She lived in a small room and never left. Sounds like a nightmare for an extrovert, but for her, it was total freedom.
She wasn't hiding from the world; she was listening to it. People from all over England, including the famous (and slightly chaotic) mystic Margery Kempe, traveled to Norwich just to talk to Julian through her window.
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She became the medieval version of a therapist. Her "showings" gave her a perspective that was oddly grounded. She didn't offer toxic positivity. She offered a "steadfast trust."
Next Steps for Your Julian Journey:
If you want to move beyond the quotes and really get into the mind of the first woman to ever write a book in English, you should start with the Short Text of Revelations of Divine Love. It’s more punchy and was written right after her visions. Later, she spent twenty years thinking about them and wrote the Long Text, which is deeper and more complex.
Look for a modern translation—unless you’re a pro at Middle English, the original "A vision shewed to a devout woman" is a bit of a headache to read. Authors like Mirabai Starr or Grace Warrack have great versions that keep her warmth without the "thee" and "thou" getting in the way.
Try this: next time everything feels like it’s falling apart, don't just say "all shall be well." Remind yourself that "Love was His meaning." That was Julian’s final word on everything. Not judgment, not rules, just a Force that refuses to let go.
Actionable Insight: Spend five minutes today focusing on the "hazelnut" perspective. When a problem feels massive, visualize it as that tiny nut in your hand. It exists because it is loved. That's it. That's the whole secret.