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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?

-Albert Schweitzer

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Your Life Is Something

Albert Schweitzer

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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?

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

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.

Example Is Leadership.

Nature Compels Us To Recognize The Fact Of Mutual Dependence, Each Life Necessarily Helping The Other Lives Who Are Linked To It. In The Very Fibers Of Our Being, We Bear Within Ourselves The Fact Of The Solidarity Of Life.

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

Train Yourself Never To Put Off The Word Or Action For The Expression Of Gratitude.

A Thinking Man Feels Compelled To Approach All Life With The Same Reverence He Has For His Own.

Every Patient Carries His Or Her Own Doctor Inside.

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

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."

Most Men Are Scantily Nourished On A Modicum Of Happiness And A Number Of Empty Thoughts Which Life Lays On Their Plates. They Are Kept In The Road Of Life Through Stern Necessity By Elemental Duties Which They Cannot Avoid.

Wherever A Man Turns He Can Find Someone Who Needs Him.

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.

Life Becomes Harder For Us When We Live For Others, But It Also Becomes Richer And Happier.

The Greatest Thing Is To Give Thanks For Everything. He Who Has Learned This Knows What It Means To Live. He Has Penetrated The Whole Mystery Of Life: Giving Thanks For Everything.

Love ... Is A Living Reality.

The Gratitude Ascending From Man To God Is The Supreme Transaction Between Earth And Heaven.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

I Am Life Which Wants To Live Admidst Of Lives That Want To Live.

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.

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.

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

There Is Nothing More Negative Than The Result Of The Critical Study Of The Life Of Jesus. The Jesus Of Nazareth Who Came Forward Publicly As The Messiah, Who Preached The Kingdom Of God, Who Founded The Kingdom Of Heaven Upon Earth, And Died To Give His Work Its Final Consecration, Never Had Any Existence. He Is A Figure Designed By Rationalism, Endowed With Life By Liberalism, And Clothed By Modern Theology In An Historical Garb.

When Man Learns To Respect Even The Smallest Being Of Creation...nobody Has To Teach Him To Love His Fellow Man. Compassion For Animals Is Intimately Connected With Goodness Of Character, And It May Be Confidently Asserted That He Who Is Cruel To Animals Cannot Be A Good Man.

The True Worth Of A Man Is Not To Be Found In Man Himself, But In The Colours And Textures That Come Alive In Others.

The Last Fact Which Knowledge Can Discover Is That The World Is A Manifestation, And In Every Way A Puzzling Manifestation, Of The Universal Will To Live.

To Work For The Common Good Is The Greatest Creed.

Community Service

Reverence For Life . . . Does Not Allow The Scholar To Live For His Science Alone, Even If He Is Very Useful . . . The Artist To Exist Only For His Art, Even If He Gives Inspiration To Many. . . . It Refuses To Let The Business Man Imagine That He Fulfills All Legitimate Demands In The Course Of His Business Activities. It Demands From All That They Should Sacrifice A Portion Of Their Own Lives For Others.

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.

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

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

Constant Kindness Can Accomplish Much.

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.

Seek Always To Do Some Good, Somewhere. Every Man Has To Seek In His Own Way To Realize His True Worth. You Must Give Some Time To Your Fellow Man. For Remember, You Don't Live In A World All Your Own. Your Brothers Are Here Too.

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.

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

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

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.

The Interior Joy We Feel When We Have Done A Good Deed Is The Nourishment The Soul Requires.

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

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

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

I Am Certain And Have Always Stressed That The Destination Of Mankind Is To Become More And More Humane. The Ideal Of Humanity Has To Be Revived.

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.

The Great Enemy Of Morality Is Indifference.

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

Don't Stop To Ask Whether The Animal Or Plant You Meet Deserves Your Sympathy, Or How Much It Feels, Or Even Whether It Can Feel At All: Respect It And Consider All Life Sacred.

The Purpose Of Human Life Is To Serve, And To Show Compassion And The Will To Help Others.

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.

Every Patient Carries Her Or His Own Doctor Inside.

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

Late On The Third Day, At The Very Moment When, At Sunset, ..., There Flashed Upon My Mind, Unforeseen And Unsought, The Phrase “ehrfurcht Vor Dem Leben” (“reverence For Life”).

We All Know How Important Love Is, Yet How Often Is It Really Emoted Or Exhibited? What So Many Sick People In This World Suffer From-loneliness, Boredom And Fear-can't Be Cured With A Pill.

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

The Great Secret Of Success Is To Go Through Life As A Person Who Never Gets Used Up. That Is Possible For Those Who Never Argue And Strive With People And Facts, But In All Experience Retires Upon Themselves, And Look For The Ultimate Cause Of Things In Themselves.

I Must Forgive Without Noise Or Fuss.

Knowing Who You Are

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.

My Life Carries Its Own Meaning In Itself.

Meaning Of Life

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

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

Everything Deep Is Also Simple And Can Be Reproduced Simply As Long As Its Reference To The Whole Truth Is Maintained. But What Matters Is Not What Is Witty But What Is True.

Long Distance Relationship

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

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.

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

From Naive Simplicity We Arrive At More Profound Simplicity.

The Highest Knowledge Is To Know That We Are Surrounded By Mystery.

Compassion, In Which All Ethics Must Take Root, Can Only Attain Its Full Breadth And Depth If It Embraces All Living Creatures And Does Not Limit Itself To Mankind.

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

In The Hearts Of People Today There Is A Deep Longing For Peace. When The True Spirit Of Peace Is Thoroughly Dominant, It Becomes An Inner Experience With Unlimited Possibilities. Only When This Really Happens - When The Spirit Of Peace Awakens And Takes Possession Of Men's Hearts, Can Humanity Be Saved From Perishing.

Set A Great Example. Someone May Imitate It.

Soldiers' Graves Are The Greatest Preachers Of Peace.

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.

Ethical Existence [is] The Highest Manifestation Of Spirituality.

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.

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.

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

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

Our Degeneration, When It Is Traced Back To Its Origin In Our View Of The World Really Consists In The Fact That True Optimism Has Vanished Unperceived From Our Midst.

Ethics Are Complete, Profound And Alive Only When Addressed To All Living Beings. Only Then Are We In Spiritual Connection With The World. Any Philosophy Not Representing This, Not Based On The Indefinite Totality Of Life, Is Bound To Disappear.

It's Supposed To Be A Secret, But I'll Tell You Anyway. We Doctors Do Nothing. We Only Help. And Encourage The Doctor Within.

Every Start On An Untrodden Path Is A Venture Which Only In Unusual Circumstances Looks Sensible And Likely To Succeed.

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

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.

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

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

By Respect For Life We Become Religious In A Way That Is Elementary, Profound And Alive.

The Great Fault Of All Ethics Hitherto Has Been That They Believed Themselves To Have To Deal Only With The Relations Of Man To Man. In Reality, However, The Question Is What Is His Attitude To The World And All Life That Comes Within His Reach.

A Man Who Possesses A Veneration Of Life Will Not Simply Say His Prayers. He Will Throw Himself Into The Battle To Preserve Life, If For No Other Reason Than That He Himself Is An Extension Of Life Around Him.

Faith Which Refuses To Face Indisputable Facts Is But Little Faith. Truth Is Always Gain, However Hard It Is To Accommodate Ourselves To It. To Linger In Any Kind Of Untruth Proves To Be A Departure From The Straight Way Of Faith.

Wherever You Turn, You Can Find Someone Who Needs You. Even If It Is A Little Thing, Do Something For Which There Is No Pay But The Privilege Of Doing It. Remember, You Don't Live In A World All Of Your Own

Seek Always To Do Some Good, Somewhere... Even If It's A Little Thing, So Something For Those That Need Help, Something For Which You Get No Pay But The Privilege Of Doing It.

Knowing All Truth Is Less Than Doing A Little Bit Of Good.

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.

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

Preservation Of Life Is The Only True Joy.

Preservation Of Life

He Who Does Not Reflect His Life Back To God In Gratitude Does Not Know Himself.

Kindness Works Simply And Perseveringly; It Produces No Strained Relations Which Prejudice Its Working; Strained Relations Which Already Exist It Relaxes. Mistrust And Misunderstanding It Puts To Flight, And It Strengthens Itself By Calling Forth Answering Kindness. Hence It Is The Furthest Reaching And The Most Effective Of All Forces.

He Comes To Us As One Unknown, Without A Name, As Of Old, By The Lakeside, He Came To Those Men Who Knew Him Not. He Speaks To Us The Same Words: "follow Thou Me!" And Sets Us To The Tasks Which He Has To Fulfill For Our Time. He Commands. And To Those Who Obey Him, Whether They Be Wise Or Simple, He Will Reveal Himself In The Toils, The Conflicts, The Sufferings Which They Shall Pass Through In His Fellowship, And, As An Ineffable Mystery, They Shall Learn In Their Own Experience Who He Is.

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

Difficult Things

I Do Not Want To Frighten You By Telling You About The Temptations Life Will Bring. Anyone Who Is Healthy In Spirit Will Overcome Them. But There Is Something I Want You To Realize. It Does Not Matter So Much What You Do. What Matters Is Whether Your Soul Is Harmed By What You Do. If Your Soul Is Harmed, Something Irreparable Happens, The Extent Of Which You Won't Realize Until It Will Be Too Late.

When We Observe Contemporary Society One Thing Strikes Us. We Debate But Make No Progress. Why? Because As Peoples We Do Not Yet Trust Each Other.

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

Animal Protection Is Education To The Humanity.

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.

The Gratitude That We Encounter Helps Us Believe In The Goodness Of The World, And Strengthens Us Thereby To Do What's Good.

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.

We Must Never Allow The Voice Of Humanity Within Us To Be Silenced. It Is Humanity's Sympathy With All Creatures That First Makes Us Truly Human.

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.

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.

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

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

It Seemed To Me A Matter Of Course That We Should All Take Our Share Of The Burden Of Pain Which Lies Upon The World.

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

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

Success Is Not The Key To Happiness. Happiness Is The Key To Success. If You Love What You Are Doing, You Will Be Successful.

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

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

There Is No Higher Religion Than Human Service.

Community Service

Do Something For Somebody Everyday For Which You Do Not Get Paid.

By Having A Reverence For Life, We Enter Into A Spiritual Relation With The World By Practicing Reverence For Life We Become Good, Deep, And Alive.

No Man Need Fear Death, He Need Fear Only That He May Die Without Having Known His Greatest Power: The Power Of His Free Will To Give His Life For Others

It Is Through The Idealism Of Youth That Man Catches Sight Of Truth, And In That Idealism He Possesses A Wealth Which He Must Never Exchange For Anything Else.

My Life Is My Argument.

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

I Look Back Upon My Youth And Realize How So Many People Gave Me Help, Understanding, Courage - Very Important Things To Me - And They Never Knew It. They Entered Into My Life And Became Powers Within Me.

One Person Can And Does Make A Difference.

Making A Difference

The Only Thing Of Importance, When We Depart, Will Be The Traces Of Love We Have Left Behind.

The Study Of The Life Of Jesus Has Had A Curious History. It Set Out In Quest Of The Historical Jesus, Believing That When It Had Found Him It Could Bring Him Straight Into Our Time As A Teacher And Saviour. ... But He Does Not Stay; He Passes By Our Time And Returns To His Own... He Returned To His Own Time, Not Owing To The Application Of Any Historical Ingenuity, But By The Same Inevitable Necessity By Which The Liberated Pendulum Returns To Its Original Position.

An Optimist Is A Person Who Sees A Green Light Everywhere, While A Pessimist Sees Only The Red Stoplight... The Truly Wise Person Is Colorblind.

To Affirm Life Is To Deepen, To Make More Inward, And To Exalt The Will-to-life. At The Same Time 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 As His Own. He Accepts As Being Good: To Preserve Life, To Raise To Its Highest Value Life Which Is Capable Of Development; And As Being Evil: To Destroy Life, To Injure Life, To Repress Life Which Is Capable Of Development. This Is The Absolute, Fundamental Principle Of The Moral, And It Is A Necessity Of Thought.

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.

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

If You Study Life Deeply, Its Profundity Will Seize You Suddenly With Dizziness.

I Still Remain Convinced That Truth, Love, Peaceableness, Meekness, And Kindness Are The Violence Which Can Master All Other Violence. The World Will Be Theirs As Soon As Ever A Sufficient Number Of People With Purity Of Heart, With Strength, And With Perseverance Think And Live Out The Thoughts Of Love And Truth, Of Meekness And Peaceableness.

I See In Him (dr. Max Gerson) One Of The Most Eminent Medical Geniuses In The History Of Medicine...he Was Greatly Impeded By Adverse Political Conditions.

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.

Ethics Has Not Only To Do With Mankind But With The Animal Creation As Well. This Is Witnessed In The Purpose Of St. Francis Of Assisi. Thus We Shall Arrive That Ethics Is Reverence For All Life. This Is The Ethic Of Love Widened Universally. It Is The Ethic Of Jesus Now Recognized As A Necessity Of Thought...only A Universal Ethic Which Embraces Every Living Creature Can Put Us In Touch With The Universe And The Will Which Is There Manifest.

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.

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

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

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

Our Age Is Bent On Trying To Make The Barren Tree Of Skepticism Fruitful By Tying The Fruits Of Truth On Its Branches.

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

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

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

Because I Have Confidence In The Power Of Truth And In The Spirit, I Believe In The Future Of Mankind. Affirmation Of The World And Of Life Contains Within Itself An Optimistic Willing And Hoping Which Can Never Be Lost. It Is, Therefore, Never Afraid To Face The Dismal Reality And To See It As It Really Is.

Search And See If There Is Not Some Place Where You May Invest Your Humanity.

Thought Cannot Avoid The Ethical Or Reverence And Love For All Life. It Will Abandon The Old Confined Systems Of Ethics And Be Forced To Recognize The Ethics That Knows No Bounds. But On The Other Hand, Those Who Believe In Love For All Creation Must Realize Clearly The Difficulties Involved In The Problem Of A Boundless Ethic And Must Be Resolved Not To Veil From Humankind The Conflicts Which This Ethic Will Involve Us, But Allow Us Really To Experience Them. To Think Out In Every Implication The Ethic Of Love For All Creation This Is The Difficult Task Which Confronts Our Age.

Inspirational Love

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.

Sincerity Is The Foundation Of The Spiritual Life.

What We Call Love Is In Its Essence Reverence For Life.

Reverence For Life

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

Aim For Service And Success Will Follow!

A Good Example Has Twice The Value Of Good Advice

No One Can Give A Definition Of The Soul. But We Know What It Feels Like. The Soul Is The Sense Of Something Higher Than Ourselves, Something That Stirs In Us Thoughts, Hopes, And Aspirations Which Go Out To The World Of Goodness, Truth And Beauty. The Soul Is A Burning Desire To Breathe In This World Of Light And Never To Lose It--to Remain Children Of Light.

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

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.

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.

Never For A Moment Do We Lay Aside Our Mistrust Of The Ideals Established By Society, And Of The Convictions Which Are Kept By It In Circulation. We Always Know That Society Is Full Of Folly And Will Deceive Us In The Matter Of Humanity. ... Humanity Meaning Consideration For The Existence And The Happiness Of Individual Human Beings.

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.

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

Cold Completely Introspective Logic Places A Philosopher On The Road To The Abstract. Out Of This Empty, Artificial Act Of Thinking There Can Result, Of Course, Nothing Which Bears On The Relation Of Man To Himself, And To The Universe.

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.

Who Can Describe The Injustice And The Cruelties That In The Course Of Centuries The Peoples Of Color Of The World Have Suffered At The Hands Of Europeans?... We And Our Civilization Are Burdened, Really, With A Great Debt. We Are Not Free To Confer Benefits On These Men, Or Not, As We Please; It Is Our Duty. Anything We Give Them Is Not Benevolence But Atonement.

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

The African Is My Brother But He Is My Younger Brother By Several Centuries.

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

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

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

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

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.

Reverence For Life Is The Highest Court Of Appeal.

Joy, Sorrow, Tears, Lamentation, Laughter -- To All These Music Gives Voice

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.

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

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.

I Decided That I Would Make My Life My Argument.

The Christ Of Theology Is Not Alive For Us Today. He Is Wrapped In The Grave Cloths Of Dogma.

Rational Thinking Which Is Free From Assumptions Ends Therefore In Mysticism. To Relate Oneself In The Spirit Of Reverence For Life To The Multiform Manifestations Of The Will-to-live Which Together Constitute The World Is Ethical Mysticism. All Profound World-view Is Mysticism, The Essence Of Which Is Just This: That Out Of My Unsophisticated And Naïve Existence In The World There Comes, As A Result Of Thought About Self And The World, Spiritual Self-devotion To The Mysterious Infinite Will Which Is Continuously Manifested In The Universe.

Humanitarianism Consists In Never Sacrificing A Human Being To A Purpose.

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.'

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.

Where Possible Paul Avoids Quoting The Teaching Of Jesus, In Fact Even Mentioning It. If We Had To Rely On Paul, We Should Not Know That Jesus Taught In Parables, Had Delivered The Sermon On The Mount, And Had Taught His Disciples The 'our Father.' Even Where They Are Specially Relevant, Paul Passes Over The Words Of The Lord.

The Thinking Man Must Oppose All Cruel Customs No Matter How Deeply Rooted In Tradition Or Surrounded By A Halo. We Need A Boundless Ethics Which Will Include The Animals Also. My Life Is Full Of Meaning To Me. The Life Around Me Must Be Full Of Significance To It. If I Want Others To Respect My Life, Then I Must Respect The Other Life I See However Strange It May Be To Mine. Ethics In Our Western World Has Hitherto Been Largely Limited To The Relation Of Man To Man... But That Is A Limited Ethics.

If There Is Anything I Have Learned About Men And Women, It Is That There Is A Deeper Spirit Of Altruism Than Is Ever Evident. Just As The Rivers We See Are Minor Compared To The Underground Streams, So, Too, The Idealism That Is Visible Is Minor Compared To What People Carry In Their Hearts Unreleased Or Scarcely Released.

I Too Had Thoughts Once Of Being An Intellectual, But I Found It Too Difficult.

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.

The Stronger The Reverence For Natural Life, The Stronger Grows Also That For Spiritual Life.

Reverence For Life

Renunciation Of Thinking Is A Declaration Of Spiritual Bankruptcy.

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.

It Is Not Always Granted To The Sower To See The Harvest.

Pablo Casals Is A Great Musician In All He Does: A Cellist Without Equal, And Extraordinary Conductor And Composer With Something To Say. I Have Been Profoundly Impressed By All I Have Heard Of His Work, But He Is A Musician Of This Stature Because He Is Also A Great Man.

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