Albert Schweitzer Quotes

Not only is example the best way to teach, it is the only way.

It is the fate of every truth to be an object of ridicule when it is first acclaimed.

I always think that we live, spiritually, By what others have given us in the significant hours of our life. These significant hours do not announce themselves as coming, but arrive unexpected.

Because I have confidence in the power of truth, and of the spirit, I have confidence in the future of mankind.

No one may shut his eyes to think the pain, which is therefore not visible to him, is non-existent.

Every patient carries his or her own doctor inside.

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.

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.

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.

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.

Hear our humble prayer, O God. Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to the animals.

The thinking man must oppose all cruelties no matter how deeply rooted in tradition or surrounded by a halo.

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

Serious illness doesn't bother me for long because I am too inhospitable a host.

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.

Does my behavior in respect of love affect nothing? That is because there is not enough love in me.

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.

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.

Every start on an untrodden path is a venture which only in unusual circumstances looks sensible and likely to succeed.

Jesus as a concrete historical personality remains a stranger to our time, but His spirit, which lies hidden in His words, is known in simplicity, and its influence is direct.

Only an ethical movement can rescue us from barbarism, and the ethical comes into existence only in individuals.

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.

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 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.

The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind by its devotion to God which is manifested by actions.

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.

Where principles and heart stand in conflict with each other, let us make the law of the spirit free from the law of principles.

I decided that I would make my life my argument.

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 highest knowledge is to know that we are surrounded by mystery.

Truth has not special time of its own. Its hour is now - always and, indeed then most truly, when it seems unsuitable to actual circumstances.

If the extension of your compassion does not include all living beings, then you will be unable to find peace by yourself.

Be faithful to your love and you mill be recompensed beyond measure.

The stronger the reverence for natural life, the stronger grows also that for spiritual life.

I wanted to be a doctor that I might be able to work without having to talk because for years I had been giving myself out in words.

All work that is worth anything is done in faith.

Don't blame, forgive, All healing is self-healing

You ask me for a motto. Here it is: SERVICE.

Ethical existence [is] the highest manifestation of spirituality.

If you truly desire happiness, seek and learn how to serve.

Not less strong than the will to truth must be the will to sincerity. Only an age, which can show the courage of sincerity, can possess truth, which works as a spiritual force within it.

In resigning ourselves to our fate without a struggle, we are guilty of inhumanity.

O heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath: guard them from all evil and let them sleep in peace.

Bach is thus a terminal point. Nothing comes from him; everything merely leads to him.

Any profound view of the world is mysticism. It has, of course, to deal with life and the world, both of which are nonrational entities.

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.

I must forgive without noise or fuss.

One person can and does make a difference.

The only ones who will find real happiness are those who find a way to serve

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.