Albert Schweitzer Quotes
Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1952 for his selfless commitment to humanitarian causes.
(1875 - 1965)
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A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.
[Success]
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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.
[One Day]
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A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.
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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.
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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.
[Able]
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Affirmation of the world, which means affirmation of the will-to-live that manifests itself around me, is only possible if I devote myself to other life.
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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.
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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.
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Any religion or philosophy which is not based on a respect for life is not a true religion or philosophy.
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Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly, even if they roll a few stones upon it.
[Acceptance]
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As long as I can remember, I have suffered because of the great misery I saw in the world. I never really knew the artless, youthful joy of living, and I believe that many children feel this way, even when outwardly they seem to be wholly happy and without a single care.
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As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.
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As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible, but more mysterious.
[Knowledge]
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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.
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Awakening of Western thought will not be complete until that thought steps outside itself and comes to an understanding with the search for a world-view as this manifests itself in the thought of mankind as a whole.
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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.
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By respect for life we become religious in a way that is elementary, profound and alive.
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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.
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Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
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Day by day we should weigh what we have granted to the spirit of the world against what we have denied to the spirit of Jesus, in thought and especially in deed.
[Against]
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