A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair. – Abraham Joshua Heschel
Man’s sin is in his failure to live what he is. Being the master of the earth, man forgets that he is the servant of God. – Abraham Joshua Heschel
It is not enough for me to ask question; I want to know how to answer the one question that seems to encompass everything I face: What am I here for? – Abraham Joshua Heschel
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. – Abraham Joshua Heschel
Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself. – Abraham Joshua Heschel
Racism is man’s gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason. – Abraham Joshua Heschel
He who is satisfied has never truly craved, and he who craves for the light of God neglects his ease for ardor. – Abraham Joshua Heschel
God is not a hypothesis derived from logical assumptions, but an immediate insight, self-evident as light. He is not something to be sought in the darkness with the light of reason. He is the light. – Abraham Joshua Heschel
A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old. It is easy to love children. Even tyrants and dictators make a point of being fond of children. But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture. – Abraham Joshua Heschel
