"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate..."

I learned something interesting today.  Yknow the "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate" quote?  A friend of mine posted it on her blog today and attributed it to someone I'd never heard it attributed to before.  I was going to go on and tell her, but I decided to look it up first.  She was right.  Turns out, it's not Nelson Mandela's quote as I've always heard and been taught.  It's Marianne Williamson's.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. 

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. 

We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?' 

Actually, 

who are we not to be? 

You are a child of God. 

Your playing small does not serve the world. 

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people don't feel insecure around you. 

We are all meant to shine, as children do. 

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. 

It is not just within some of us; it's in everyone. 

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 

As we are liberated from our own fear, 

our presence automatically liberates others."