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We Wander Through This Life Together In A Semi-darkness In Which None Of Us Can Distinguish Exactly The Features Of His Neighbour. Only From Time To Time, Through Some Experience That We Have Of Our Companion, Or Through Some Remark That He Passes, He Stands For A Moment Close To Us, As Though Illuminated By A Flash Of Lightning. Then We See Him As He Really Is.

-Albert Schweitzer

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We Wander Through This

Albert Schweitzer

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We Wander Through This Life Together In A Semi-darkness In Which None Of Us Can Distinguish Exactly The Features Of His Neighbour. Only From Time To Time, Through Some Experience That We Have Of Our Companion, Or Through Some Remark That He Passes, He Stands For A Moment Close To Us, As Though Illuminated By A Flash Of Lightning. Then We See Him As He Really Is.

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The Only Way Out Of Today's Misery Is For People To Become Worthy Of Each Other's Trust.

We Must Fight Against The Spirit Of Unconscious Cruelty With Which We Treat The Animals. Animals Suffer As Much As We Do. True Humanity Does Not Allow Us To Impose Such Sufferings On Them. It Is Our Duty To Make The Whole World Recognize It. Until We Extend Our Circle Of Compassion To All Living Things, Humanity Will Not Find Peace.

In Modern European Thought A Tragedy Is Occurring In That The Original Bonds Uniting The Affirmative Attitude Towards The World With Ethics Are, By A Slow But Irresistible Process, Loosening And Finally Parting. Out Of My Life And Thought.

To Me, Good Health Is More Than Just Exercise And Diet. Its Really A Point Of View And A Mental Attitude You Have About Yourself.

Happiness Is The Only Thing That Multiplies When You Share It.

Each Act Of Unfaithfulness Toward Our Inner Being Is A Blot On Our Souls. If We Continue To Be Unfaithful, Our Souls Are Eventually Torn Apart And We Slowly Bleed To Death.

Anyone Who Has Accustomed Himself To Regard The Life Of Any Living Creature As Worthless Is In Danger Of Arriving Also At The Idea Of Worthless Human Lives.

The Ethic Of Reverence For Life Prompts Us To Keep Each Other Alert To What Troubles Us And To Speak And Act Dauntlessly Together In Discharging The Responsibility That We Feel. It Keeps Us Watching Together For Opportunities To Bring Some Sort Of Help To Animals In Recompense For The Great Misery That Men Inflict Upon Them, And Thus For A Moment We Escape From The Incomprehensible Horror Of Existence.

Within Every Patient There Resides A Doctor, And We As Physicians Are At Our Best When We We Put Our Patients In Touch With The Doctor Inside Themselves.

The Spirit Of The Age Is Filled With The Disdain For Thinking.

Open Your Eyes And Look For Some Man, Or Some Work For The Sake Of Men, Which Needs A Little Time, A Little Friendship, A Little Sympathy, A Little Sociability, A Little Human Toil....it Is Needed In Every Nook And Corner. Therefore Search And See If There Is Not Some Place Where You May Invest Your Humanity.

Man Has Lost The Capacity To Foresee And To Forestall. He Will End By Destroying The Earth.

Help Me To Fling My Life Like A Flaming Firebrand Into The Gathering Darkness Of The World.

If The Extension Of Your Compassion Does Not Include All Living Beings, Then You Will Be Unable To Find Peace By Yourself.

Any Religion Or Philosophy Which Is Not Based On A Respect For Life Is Not A True Religion Or Philosophy.

The Bhagavad-gita Has A Profound Influence On The Spirit Of Mankind By Its Devotion To God Which Is Manifested By Actions.

Devotion To God

You Must Learn To Understand The Secret Of Gratitude. It Is More Than Just So-called Virtue. It Is Revealed To You As A Mysterious Law Of Existence. In Obedience To It We Have To Fulfill Our Destiny.

Anyone Who Proposes To Do Good Must Not Expect People To Roll Stones Out Of His Way, But Must Accept His Lot Calmly If They Even Roll A Few More On It. A Strength Which Becomes Clearer And Stronger Through Experiences Of Such Obstacles Is The Only Strength That Can Conquer Them. Resistance Is Only A Waste Of Strength.

If You Are Called Upon To Play A Church Service, It Is A Greater Honor Than If You Were To Play A Concert On The Finest Organ In The World... Thank God Each Time When You Are Privileged To Sit Before The Organ Console And Assist In The Worship Of The Almighty.

When People Have Light In Themselves, It Will Shine Out From Them. Then We Get To Know Each Other As We Walk Together In The Darkness, Without Needing To Pass Our Hands Over Each Other's Faces, Or To Intrude Into Each Other's Hearts.

It Is A Man's Sympathy With All Creatures That First Makes Him Truly A Man.

Bach Is Thus A Terminal Point. Nothing Comes From Him; Everything Merely Leads To Him.

Creative Energy Is The Essence Of All Healing...we Physicians Do Nothing, We Only Help And Encourage The Physician Within.

But Merely Accepting Authoritarian Truth, Even If That Truth Has Some Virtue, Does Not Bring Skepticism To An End. To Blindly Accept A Truth One Has Never Reflected Upon Retards The Advance Of Reason. Our World Rots In Deceit. . . . Just As A Tree Bears The Same Fruit Year After Year And At The Same Time Fruit That Is New Each Year, So Must All Permanently Valuable Ideas Be Continually Created Anew In Thought. But Our Age Pretends To Make A Sterile Tree Bear Fruit By Tying Fruits Of Truth Onto Its Branches.

Never Say There Is Nothing Beautiful In The World Anymore. There Is Always Something To Make You Wonder In The Shape Of A Tree, The Trembling Of A Leaf.

The Most Difficult Thing I Have Ever Had To Do Is Follow The Guidance I Prayed For.

Difficult Things

My Life Is Full Of Meaning To Me. The Life Around Me Must Be Full Of Significance To Itself. If I Am To Expect Others To Respect My Life, Then I Must Respect The Other Life I See.

Ethics Cannot Be Based Upon Our Obligations Toward People, But They Are Complete And Natural Only When We Feel This Reverence For Life And The Desire To Have Compassion For And To Help All Creatures Insofar As It Is In Our Power. I Think That This Ethic Will Become More And More Recognized Because Of Its Great Naturalness And Because It Is The Foundation Of A True Humanism Toward Which We Must Strive If Our Culture Is To Become Truly Ethical.

Man Is A Clever Animal Who Behaves Like An Imbecile.

My Life Carries Its Own Meaning In Itself.

Meaning Of Life

If You Truly Desire Happiness, Seek And Learn How To Serve.

Set A Great Example. Someone May Imitate It.

We Cannot Abdicate Our Conscience To An Organization, Nor To A Government.

The Demands Of Jesus Are Difficult Just Because They Require Us To Do Something Extraordinary. At The Same Time He Asks Us To Regard These As Something Usual, Ordinary.

Grow Into Your Ideals So That Life Cannot Rob You Of Them.

The Fundamental Rights Of [humanity] Are, First: The Right Of Habitation; Second, The Right To Move Freely; Third, The Right To The Soil And Subsoil, And To The Use Of It; Fourth, The Right Of Freedom Of Labor And Of Exchange; Fifth, The Right To Justice; Sixth, The Right To Live Within A Natural National Organization; And Seventh, The Right To Education.

It's Not Enough Merely To Exist. Every Man Has To Seek In His Own Way To Make His Own Self More Noble And To Relize His Own True Worth.

Reverence For Life Brings Us Into A Spiritual Relation With The World Which Is Independent Of All Knowledge Of The Universe.

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Don't Blame, Forgive, All Healing Is Self-healing

Those Who Experiment On Animals Should Never Be Able To Quiet Their Own Conscience By Telling Themselves That These Cruelties Have A Worthy Aim.

Animal Protection Is Education To The Humanity.

Reverence For Life, Veneratio Vitæ, Is The Most Direct And At The Same Time The Profoundest Achievement Of My Will-to-live.

Reverence For Life

Every Person I Have Known Who Has Been Truly Happy Has Learned How To Serve Others.

There Is Within Each Of Us A Modulation, An Inner Exaltation, Which Lifts Us Above The Buffetings With Which Events Assail Us. Likewise, It Lifts Us Above Dependence Upon The Gifts Of Events For Our Joy.

I Don't Know What Your Destiny Will Be, But One Thing I Know: The Only Ones Among You Who Will Be Really Happy Are Those Who Will Have Sought And Found How To Serve.

One Person Can And Does Make A Difference.

Making A Difference

Man's Ethics Must Not End With Man, But Should Extend To The Universe. He Must Regain The Consciousness Of The Great Chain Of Life From Which He Cannot Be Separated.

Be Faithful To Your Love And You Mill Be Recompensed Beyond Measure.

We Need A Boundless Ethics Which Will Include Animals Also.

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World-view Is A Product Of Life-view, Not Vice Versa.

Today It Is Considered As Exaggeration To Proclaim Constant Respect For Every Form Of Life As Being The Serious Demand Of A Rational Ethic. But The Time Is Coming When People Will Be Amazed That The Human Race Existed So Long Before It Recognized That Thoughtless Injury To Life Is Incompatible With Real Ethics. Ethics Is In Its Unqualified Form Extended Responsibility To Everything That Has Life.

The The Question Whether I Am A Pessimist Or An Optimist, I Answer That My Knowledge Is Pessimistic, But My Willing And Hope Are Optimistic.

All People Are Endowed With The Faculty Of Compassion, And For This Reason Can Develop The Humanitarian Spirit.

Think Occasionally Of The Suffering Of Which You Spare Yourself The Sight.

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Only An Ethical Movement Can Rescue Us From Barbarism, And The Ethical Comes Into Existence Only In Individuals.

The Awareness That We Are All Human Beings Together Has Become Lost In War And Through Politics.

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Eventually All Things Fall Into Place. Until Then, Laugh At The Confusion, Live For The Moments, And Know Everything Happens For A Reason.

Everything Happens For A Reason

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Thought Is The Strongest Thing We Have. Work Done By True And Profound Thought - That Is A Real Force.

A Man Is Truly Ethical Only When He Obeys The Compulsion To Help All Life Which He Is Able To Assist, And Shrinks From Injuring Anything That Lives.

Do Not Let Sunday Be Taken From You. If Your Soul Has No Sunday, It Becomes An Orphan.

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Thinking About Death... Produces Love For Life. When We Are Familiar With Death, We Accept Each Week, Each Day, As A Gift. Only If We Are Able Thus To Accept Life Bit By Bit Does It Become Precious.

Do Not Lose Heart, Even If You Must Wait A Bit Before Finding The Right Thing. Be Prepared For Disappointment Also, But Do Not Abandon The Quest.

A Man Is Ethical Only When Life, As Such, Is Sacred To Him.

Ethics Is The Activity Of Man Directed To Secure The Inner Perfection Of His Own Personality.

The City Of Truth Cannot Be Built On The Swampy Ground Of Skepticism.

The Friend Of Nature Is The Man Who Feels Himself Inwardly United With Everything That Lives In Nature, Who Shares In The Fate Of All Creatures, Helps Them When He Can In Their Pain And Need, And As Far As Possible Avoids Injuring Or Taking Life.

Man Can Hardly Even Recognize The Devils Of His Own Creation.

Mind Your Own Business

The Fellowship Of Those Who Bear The Mark Of Pain: Who Are The Members Of This Fellowship? Those Who Have Learnt By Experience What Physical Pain And Bodily Anguish Mean, Belong Together All The World Over; They Are United By A Secret Bond.

To The Man Who Is Truly Ethical All Life Is Sacred, Including That Which From The Human Point Of View Seems Lower In The Scale. He Makes Distinctions Only As Each Case Comes Before Him, And Under The Pressure Of Necessity, As, For Example, When It Falls To Him To Decide Which Of Two Lives He Must Sacrifice In Order To Preserve The Other. But All Through This Series Of Decisions He Is Conscious Of Acting On Subjective Grounds And Arbitrarily, And Knows That He Bears The Responsibility For The Life Which Is Sacrificed.

We Are Gripped By God’s Will Of Love, And Must Help Carry Out That Will In This World, In Small Things As In Great Things, In Saving As In Pardoning. To Be Glad Instruments Of God’s Love In This Imperfect World Is The Service To Which We Are Called.

Imperfect World

You Know Of The Disease In Central Africa Called Sleeping Sickness. . . . There Also Exists A Sleeping Sickness Of The Soul. Its Most Dangerous Aspect Is That One Is Unaware Of Its Coming. That Is Why You Have To Be Careful. As Soon As You Notice The Slightest Sign Of Indifference, The Moment You Become Aware Of The Loss Of A Certain Seriousness, Of Longing, Of Enthusiasm And Zest, Take It As A Warning. You Should Realize Your Soul Suffers If You Live Superficially.

It Seemed Incredible To Me, That Physical Courage Should Be So Commonplace And Revered, While Moral Courage . . . Is So Rare And Despised.

All Art Speaks In Signs And Symbols. No One Can Explain How It Happens That The Artist Can Waken To Life In Us The Existence That He Has Seen And Lives Through. No Artistic Speech Is The Adequate Expression Of What It Represents; Its Vital Force Comes From What Is Unspoken In It.

It Doesn't Matter If An Animal Can Reason. It Matters Only That It Is Capable Of Suffering And That Is Why I Consider It My Neighbor.

Where Principles And Heart Stand In Conflict With Each Other, Let Us Make The Law Of The Spirit Free From The Law Of Principles.

The Great Enemy Of Morality Is Indifference.

Love Is The Only Thing That Increases Twofold Every Time It Is Shared.

A Man Can Do Only What He Can Do. But If He Does That Each Day He Can Sleep At Night And Do It Again The Next Day.

We Need A Boundless Ethic, One Which Will Include The Animals, Too. Until We Extend The Circle Of His Compassions To All Living Things, We Will Not Find Peace.

I Am Conscious That Meat Eatingis Not In Accordance With The Finer Feelings,and I Abstain From It Whenever I Can.

Very Little Of The Great Cruelty Shown By Men Can Really Be Attributed To Cruel Instinct. Most Of It Comes From Thoughtlessness Or Inherited Habit. Extract From 'memories Of Childhood And Youth.'

Example Is Not The Main Thing In Influencing Others. It Is The Only Thing.

If You Love What You Are Doing, You Will Be Successful.

In Everyone's Life, At Some Time, Our Inner Fire Goes Out. It Is Then Burst Into Flame By An Encounter With Another Human Being. We Should All Be Thankful For Those People Who Rekindle The Inner Spirit.

The Result Of The Voyage Does Not Depend On The Speed Of The Ship, But On Whether Or Not It Keeps A True Course.

Just As The Wave Cannot Exist For Itself, But Is Ever A Part Of The Heaving Surface Of The Ocean, So Must I Never Live My Life For Itself, But Always In The Experience Which Is Going On Around Me.

We All Owe To Others Much Of The Gentleness And Wisdom That We Have Made Our Own; And We May Well Ask Ourselves What Will Others Owe To Us

I Do Not Know What Your Destiny May Be, But I Do Know This, That Not One Of You Will Find The Happiness That Each Of You Is Seeking Until You Have First Sought And Found A Way In Which To Unselfishly Serve Others.

Renunciation Of Thinking Is A Declaration Of Spiritual Bankruptcy.

That's My Private Ant. You're Liable To Break Its Legs.

One Who Gains Strength By Overcoming Obstacles Possesses The Only Strength Which Can Overcome Adversity.

Hear Our Humble Prayer, O God. Make Us, Ourselves, To Be True Friends To The Animals.

There Can Be No Kingdom Of God In The World Without The Kingdom Of God In Our Hearts.

The Deeper We Look Into Nature, The More We Recognize That It Is Full Of Life, And The More Profoundly We Know That All Life Is A Secret And That We Are United With All Life That Is In Nature.

Man Can No Longer Live His Life For Himself Alone. We Realize That All Life Is Valuable And That We Are United To All This Life. From This Knowledge Comes Our Spiritual Relationship To The Universe.

Once A Man Recognizes Himself As A Being Surrounded By Other Beings In This World And Begins To Respect His Life And Take It To The Highest Value, He Becomes A Thinking Being. Then He Values Other Lives And Experiences Them As Part Of His Own Life. With That, His Goal Is To Help Everyone Take Their Life To The Highest Value; Anything Which Limits Or Destroys A Life Is Evil. That Is Morality. That Is How Men Are Related To The World Around Them.

The Witch Doctor Succeeds For The Same Reason All The Rest Of Us Succeed. Each Patient Carries His Or Her Own Doctor Inside Him Or Her. They Come To Us Not Knowing That Truth. We Are At Our Best When We Give The Doctor Who Resides Within Each Patient A Chance To Go To Work.

Does My Behavior In Respect Of Love Affect Nothing? That Is Because There Is Not Enough Love In Me.

It Is The Fate Of Every Truth To Be An Object Of Ridicule When It Is First Acclaimed.

We Ought All To Make An Effort To Act On Our First Thoughts And Let Our Unspoken Gratitude Find Expression. Then There Will Be More Sunshine In The World, And More Power To Work For What Is Good.

Because I Have Confidence In The Power Of Truth, And Of The Spirit, I Have Confidence In The Future Of Mankind.

We Cannot Possibly Let Ourselves Get Frozen Into Regarding Everyone We Do Not Know As An Absolute Stranger.

For Us The Great Men Are Not Those Who Solved The Problems, But Those Whodiscovered Them.

The Harvested Fields Bathed In The Autumn Mist Speak Of God And His Goodness Far More Vividly Than Any Human Lips.

It Is Not Enough To Merely Exist. It's Not Enough To Say, 'i'm Earning Enough To Live And Support My Family. I Do My Work Well. I'm A Good Parent.' That's All Very Well. But You Must Do Something More.

Civilization Can Only Revive When There Shall Come Into Being In A Number Of Individuals A New Tone Of Mind, Independent Of The Prevalent One Among The Crowds, And In Opposition To It - A Tone Of Mind Which Will Gradually Win Influence Over The Collective One, And In The End Determine Its Character. Only An Ethical Movement Can Rescue Us From Barbarism, And The Ethical Comes Into Existence Only In Individuals.

...try To Tell The People Of America About Dr. Gerson's Merits And ...results...i Wish You The Best In Your Difficult Task.

In Case My Life Should End With The Cannibals, I Hope They Will Write On My Tombstone, 'we Have Eaten Dr. Schweitzer. He Was Good To The End.'

It Is Only Through Love That We Can Attain To Communion With God. All Living Knowledge Of God Rests Upon This Foundation: That We Experience Him In Our Lives As Will-to-love.

Knowledge Of God

At Times Our Own Light Goes Out And Is Rekindled By A Spark From Another Person. Each Of Us Has Cause To Think With Deep Gratitude Of Those Who Have Lighted The Flame Within Us.

A Heavy Guilt Rests Upon Us For What The Whites Of All Nations Have Done To The Colored Peoples. When We Do Good To Them, It Is Not Benevolence--it Is Atonement.

True Philosophy Must Start From The Most Immediate And Comprehensive Fact Of Consciousness: "i Am Life That Wants To Live, In The Midst Of Life That Wants To Live."

The Quiet Conscience Is The Invention Of The Devil. No One Of Us May Permit Any Preventable Pain To Be Inflicted Even Though The Responsibility For That Pain Is Not Ours. No One May Shut His Eyes And Think That The Pain Which Is Therefore Not Visible, Is Non-existent.

Whatever You Have Received More Than Others-in Health, In Talents, In Ability, In Success, In A Pleasant Childhood, In Harmonious Conditions Of Home Life-all This You Must Not Take To Yourself As A Matter Of Course. In Gratitude For Your Good Fortune, You Must Remember In Return Some Sacrifice Of Your Own Life For Another Life.

Think With Deep Gratitude Of Those Who Have Lighted The Flames Within Us.

An Idea Is, In The End, Always Stronger Than Circumstances.

Civilization Can Only Revive When There Shall Come Into Being In A Number Of Individuals A New Tone Of Mind Independent Of The One Prevalent Among The Crowd And In Opposition To It. A New Public Opinion Must Be Created Privately And Unobtrusively. The Existing One Is Maintained By The Press, By Propaganda, By Organization, And By Financial Influences Which Are At Its Disposal. The Unnatural Way Of Spreading Ideas Must Be Opposed By The Natural One, Which Goes From Man To Man And Relies Solely On The Truth Of The Thoughts And The Hearer's Receptiveness Of New Truth.

If You Own Something You Cannot Give Away, Then You Don't Own It, It Owns You.

Ethics, Too, Are Nothing But Reverence For Life. This Is What Gives Me The Fundamental Principle Of Morality, Namely, That Good Consists In Maintaining, Promoting, And Enhancing Life, And That Destroying, Injuring, And Limiting Life Are Evil.

Inspirational Life

Joy, Sorrow, Tears, Lamentation, Laughter -- To All These Music Gives Voice, But In Such A Way That We Are Transported From The World Of Unrest To A World Of Peace, And See Reality In A New Way, As If We Were Sitting By A Mountain Lake And Contemplating Hills And Woods And Clouds In The Tranquil And Fathomless Water.

But The Others, Those Who Tried To Bring Jesus To Life At The Call Of Love, Found It A Cruel Task To Be Honest. The Critical Study Of The Life Of Jesus Has Been For Theology A School Of Honesty. The World Had Never Seen Before, And Will Never See Again, A Struggle For Truth So Full Of Pain And Renunciation As That Of Which The Lives Of Jesus Of The Last Hundred Years Contain The Cryptic Record.

The First Step In The Evolution Of Ethics Is A Sense Of Solidarity With Other Human Beings.

Sincerity Is The Foundation Of The Spiritual Life.

We Should All Be Thankful For Those People Who Rekindle The Inner Spirit.

Ideals Are Thoughts. So Long As They Exist Merely As Thoughts, The Power In Them Remains Ineffective.

We Are United With All Life That Is In Nature. Man Can No Longer Live His Life For Himself Alone.

Profound Love Demands A Deep Conception And Out Of This Develops Reverence For The Mystery Of Life. It Brings Us Close To All Beings, To The Poorest And Smallest As Well As All Others.

Let Us Rejoice In The Truth, Wherever We Find Its Lamp Burning.

There Are Two Means Of Refuge From The Miseries Of Life: Music And Cats.

The Man Who Has Become A Thinking Being Feels A Compulsion To Give Every Will-to-live The Same Reverence For Life That He Gives To His Own. He Experiences That Other Life In His Own.

We Are Compelled By The Commandment Of Love Contained In Our Hearts And Thought, And Proclaimed By Jesus, To Give Rein To Our Natural Sympathy For Animals. We Are Also Compelled To Help Them And Spare Them Suffering.

Very Little Of The Great Cruelty Shown By Men Can Really Be Attributed To Cruel Instinct. Most Of It Comes From Thoughtlessness Or Inherited Habit. The Roots Of Cruelty, Therefore, Are Not So Much Strong As Widespread. But The Time Must Come When Inhumanity Protected By Custom And Thoughtlessness Will Succumb Before Humanity Championed By Thought. Let Us Work That This Time May Come.

Your Life Is Something Opaque, Not Transparent, As Long As You Look At It In An Ordinary Human Way. But If You Hold It Up Against The Light Of God's Goodness, It Shines And Turns Transparent, Radiant And Bright. And Then You Ask Yourself In Amazement: Is This Really My Own Life I See Before Me?

Love ... Is A Living Reality.

Even If It Is A Little Thing, Do Something For Those Who Have Need Of Help.

We Wander Through This Life Together In A Semi-darkness In Which None Of Us Can Distinguish Exactly The Features Of His Neighbour. Only From Time To Time, Through Some Experience That We Have Of Our Companion, Or Through Some Remark That He Passes, He Stands For A Moment Close To Us, As Though Illuminated By A Flash Of Lightning. Then We See Him As He Really Is.

Ethics Is Nothing Else Than Reverence For Life.

Reverence For Life

Living Truth Is That Alone Which Has Its Origins In Thinking. Just As A Tree Bears Year After Year The Same Fruit Which Is Each Year New, So Must All Permanently Valuable Ideas Be Continually Born Again In Thought.

Not One Of Us Knows What Effect His Life Produces, And What He Gives To Others; That Is Hidden From Us And Must Remain So, Though We Are Often Allowed To See Some Little Fraction Of It, So That We May Not Lose Courage.

We Are All So Much Together, But We Are All Dying Of Loneliness.

Let Me Give You A Definition Of Ethics: It Is Good To Maintain And Further Life It Is Bad To Damage And Destroy Life.

Don't Let Your Hearts Grow Numb. Stay Alert. It Is Your Soul Which Matters.

By Ethical Conduct Toward All Creatures, We Enter Into A Spiritual Relationship With The Universe.

Your Soul Suffers If You Live Superficially.

What Does Reverence For Life Say Abut The Relations Between [humanity] And The Animal World? Whenever I Injury Any Kind Of Life I Must Be Quite Certain That It Is Necessary. I Must Never Go Beyond The Unavoidable, Not Even In Apparently Insignificant Things. The Farmer Who Has Mowed Down A Thousand Flowers In His Meadow In Order To Feed His Cows Must Be Careful On His Way Home Not To Strike The Head Off A Single Flower By The Side Of The Road In Idle Amusement, For He Thereby Infringes On The Law Of Life Without Being Under The Pressure Of Necessity.

Example Is Leadership.

Mysticism Occurs Whenever A Human Being Sees The Separation Between The Natural And The Supernatural, Between The Temporal And The Eternal, As Overcome.

Today . . . We Know That All Living Beings Who Strive To Maintain Life And Who Long To Be Spared Pain - All Living Beings On Earth - Are Our Neighbors.

I Believe That I Possess This Value: To Serve Jesus. I Am Less At Peace Than If My Goal Would Be To Attain A Professorship And A Good Life, But I Live. And That Gives Me The Tremendous Feeling Of Happiness, As If One Would Hear Music. One Feels Uprooted, Because One Asks, What Lies Ahead, What Decisions Should I Make-but More Alive, Happier Than Those Anchored In Life. To Drift With Released Anchor.

God Much Are The Truly Wealthy. So Our Inner Happiness Depends Not On What We Experience But On The Degree Of Our Gratitude To God, Gratitude — The Secret Of Life.

For Animals That Are Overworked, Underfed, And Cruelly Treated; For All Wistful Creatures In Captivity That Beat Their Wings Against Bars; For Any That Are Hunted Or Lost Or Deserted Or Frightened Or Hungry; For All That Must Be Put To Death...and For Those Who Deal With Them We Ask A Heart Of Compassion And Gentle Hands And Kindly Words.

The Willow Which Bends To The Tempest, Often Escapes Better Than The Oak Which Resists It; And So In Great Calamities, It Sometimes Happens That Light And Frivolous Spirits Recover Their Elasticity And Presence Of Mind Sooner Than Those Of A Loftier Character.

Reincarnation Contains A Most Comforting Explanation Of Reality By Means Of Which Indian Thought Surmounts Difficulties Which Baffle The Thinkers Of Europe.

No One May Shut His Eyes To Think The Pain, Which Is Therefore Not Visible To Him, Is Non-existent.

My View Is That We Stand Up For Treating The Animals In A Considerate Way, For Completely Renouncing The Eating Of Meat And Also For Speaking Out Against It. This Is What I Do Myself. And In This Way Many A One Becomes Aware Of A Problem That Was Put Forward So Late.

The Time Will Come When Public Opinion Will No Longer Tolerate Amusements Based On The Mistreatment And Killing Of Animals. The Time Will Come, But When? When Will We Reach The Point That Hunting, The Pleasure In Killing Animals For Sport, Will Be Regarded As A Mental Aberration?

Reverence For Life Affords Me My Fundamental Principle Of Morality.

A Man Is Ethical Only When Life, As Such, Is Sacred To Him, That Of Plants And Animals As That Of His Fellow Men, And When He Devotes Himself Helpfully To All Life That Is In Need Of Help.

Love . . . Includes Fellowship In Suffering, In Joy And In Effort.

No Ray Of Sunlight Is Ever Lost, But The Green Which It Awakes Into Existence Needs Time To Sprout, And It Is Not Always Granted To The Sower To See The Harvest. All Work That Is Worth Anything Is Done In Faith.

Anyone Who Proposes To Do Good Must Not Expect People To Roll Stones Out Of His Way, But Must Accept His Lot Calmly If They Even Roll A Few More Upon It.

A Man Does Not Have To Be An Angel In Order To Be Saint.

By Respect For Life We Become Religious In A Way That Is Elementary, Profound And Alive. Impart As Much As You Can Of Your Spiritual Being To Those Who Are On The Road With You, And Accept As Something Precious What Comes Back To You From Them. In Everyone's Life, At Some Time, Our Inner Fire Goes Out. It Is Then Burst Into Flame By An Encounter With Another Human Being. We Should All Be Thankful For Those People Who Rekindle The Inner Spirit. - Albert Schweitzer

Pain Is A More Terrible Lord Of Mankind Than Even Death Itself.

The Disastrous Feature Of Our Civilization Is That It Is Far More Developed Materially Than Spiritually. Its Balance Is Disturbed.

From Naive Simplicity We Arrive At More Profound Simplicity.

Whoever Is Spared Personal Pain Must Feel Himself Called To Help In Diminishing The Pain Of Others. We Must All Carry Our Share Of The Misery Which Lies Upon The World.

Every Patient Carries Her Or His Own Doctor Inside.

Just As White Light Consists Of Colored Rays, So Reverence For Life Contains All The Components Of Ethics: Love, Kindliness, Sympathy, Empathy, Peacefulness And Power To Forgive.

There Is Much Coldness Among Men Because We Do Not Dare To Be As Cordial As We Really Are.

Until He Extends His Circle Of Compassion To Include All Living Things, Man Will Not Himself Find Peace.

To Educate Yourself For The Feeling Of Gratitude Means To Take Nothing For Granted.

The Three Most Important Ways To Lead People Are:... By Example... By Example... By Example.

The Thinking Man Must Oppose All Cruelties No Matter How Deeply Rooted In Tradition Or Surrounded By A Halo.

In The Same Way As The Tree Bears The Same Fruit Year After Year, But Each Time New Fruit, All Lastingly Valuable Ideas In Thinking Must Always Be Reborn.

The Great Secret Of Success Is To Go Through Life As A Man Who Never Gets Used To Failing.

We Must All Die. But That I Can Save Him From Days Of Torture, That Is What I Feel As My Great And Ever New Privilege. Pain Is A More Terrible Lord Of Mankind Than Even Death Itself.

To Work For The Common Good Is The Greatest Creed.

Community Service

You Ask Me For A Motto. Here It Is: Service.

For Those Who Sincerely Seek The Truth Should Not Fear The Outcome.

Affirmation Of Life Is The Spiritual Act By Which Man Ceases To Live Unreflectively And Begins To Devote Himself To His Life With Reverence In Order To Raise It To Its True Value. To Affirm Life Is To Deepen, To Make More Inward, And To Exalt The Will.

At 20 Everyone Has The Face That God Gave Them, At 40 The Face That Life Gave Them, And At 60 The Face They Earned.

Jesus Means Something To Our World Because A Mighty Spiritual Force Streams Forth From Him And Flows Through Our Being Also. This Fact Can Neither Be Shaken Nor Confirmed By Any Historical Discovery. It Is The Solid Foundation Of Christianity.

Truth Has No Special Time Of Its Own. Its Hour Is Now - Always.

The Only Ones Who Will Find Real Happiness Are Those Who Find A Way To Serve

Only Those Who Respect The Personality Of Others Can Be Of Real Use To Them.

O Heavenly Father, Protect And Bless All Things That Have Breath: Guard Them From All Evil And Let Them Sleep In Peace.

In The Past We Have Tried To Make A Distinction Between Animals Which We Acknowledge Have Some Value And Other Which, Having None, Can Be Liquidated When We Wish. This Standard Must Be Abandoned. Everything That Lives Has Value Simply As A Living Thing, As One Of The Manifestations Of The Mystery That Is Life.

You Don't Live In A World All Alone. Your Brothers Are Here Too.

The Tragedy Of Life Is What Dies Inside A Man While He Lives.

At That Point In Life Where Your Talent Meets The Needs Of The World, That Is Where God Wants You To Be.

Happiness Is Nothing More Than Good Health And A Bad Memory.

Man Must Cease Attributing His Problems To His Environment, And Learn Again To Exercise His Will - His Personal Responsibility In The Realm Of Faith And Morals.

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Valerie Bertinelli

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