Abraham Joshua Heschel Quotes

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say ‘no’ to oneself.

Racism is man’s gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.

Awareness of the divine begins with wonder.

Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself. It is a silent justification affording evil acceptability in society.

Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.

When religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion, its message becomes meaningless.

Understanding God is not attained by calling into session all arguments for and against Him, in order to debate whether He is a reality or a figment of the mind. God cannot be sensed as a second thought, as an explanation of the origin of the universe. He is either the first and the last, or just another concept.

In a controversy, the instant we feel anger, we have already ceased striving for truth and have begun striving for ourselves.

One of the major symptoms of the general crisis existent in our world today is our lack of sensitivity to words. We use words as tools. We forget that words are a repository of the spirit. The tragedy of our times is that the vessels of the spirit are broken. We cannot approach the spirit unless we repair the vessels. Reverence for words – an awareness of the wonder of words, of the mystery of words – is an essential prerequisite for prayer. By the word of God the world was created.

feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal

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?

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.