God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

This sentence is the best-known form of the “Serenity Prayer,” widely attributed to the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). Niebuhr wrote versions of the prayer in the early 20th century, and it circulated in religious and pastoral settings before becoming famous through its adoption by Alcoholics Anonymous and other recovery movements in the mid-1900s. The prayer’s appeal lies in its practical spiritual counsel for moral decision-making under pressure: it offers a framework for discerning what is within one’s power to alter and what must be endured, a theme consistent with Niebuhr’s broader Christian realist emphasis on human limits, responsibility, and humility.

The prayer divides life’s challenges into two categories—what cannot be changed and what should be changed—and asks for three virtues to meet them: serenity (equanimity in the face of the unalterable), courage (moral resolve to act where action is required), and wisdom (discernment to tell the difference). Its force is ethical as much as consolatory: it warns against two opposite errors, passive resignation (treating injustices as inevitable) and anxious control (trying to master what is beyond human power). By framing discernment as a gift (“God, give us…”), it also stresses humility and dependence rather than self-sufficiency.

1) “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.”
2) “God, grant me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed…” (grace/grant; accept with serenity/serenity to accept).
3) A common longer form adds: “Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathway to peace…”