Life without commitment is not worth living.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
No man is sterile. Every soul is pregnant with the seed of insight. It is vague and hidden. In some people the seed grows, in others it decays. Some give birth to life. Others miscarry it. Some know how to bear, to nurse, to rear an insight that comes into being. Others do not … .
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
The opposite of good is not evil, it is indifference.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
The course of life is unpredictable… no one can write his autobiography in advance.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Autobiography, Future
In the darkest night to be certain of the dawn … to go through Hell and to continue to trust in the goodness of God—this is the challenge and the way.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Hope, Trust
Worship is a way of seeing the world in the light of God.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
I’ve learned from the prophets that I have to be involved in the affairs of man, in the affairs of suffering man.
—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
Topics: Questions
What keeps me alive—spiritually, emotionally, intellectually—is my ability to be surprised.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Then comes the insight that All is God. One still realizes that the world is as it was, but it does not matter, it does not affect one’s faith.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Divinity, God, Faith
God is everywhere or nowhere, the father of all people or of none, concerned about everything or nothing. Only in His presence shall we learn that the glory of humankind is not in its will to power but in its power of compassion.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Helpfulness
Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy the promise, the hope, the vision.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Activism
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
Topics: Compassion, Religion
Remember that there is a meaning beyond absurdity. Be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power. Never forget that you can still do your share to redeem the world in spite of all absurdities and frustrations and disappointments.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Above all, the prophets remind us of the moral state of a people: Few are guilty, but all are responsible.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
When religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion—its message becomes meaningless.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face sacred moments.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Racism is man’s gravest threat to man—the maximum hatred for a minimum reason.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Reason, Racism
In regard to cruelties committed in the name of a free society, some are guilty while all are responsible.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Blessings, Appreciation
Self-respect is the fruit of discipline, the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Self-Control, Self Respect, Authority, Self-respect, Discipline
Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Wonder, Knowledge
All it takes is one person… and another… and another… and another… to start a movement.
—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
Topics: Aging
Speech has power. Words do not fade. What starts out as a sound, ends in a deed.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Our concern is not how to worship in the catacombs but how to remain human in the skyscrapers.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Civilization
Proximity to the crowd, to the majority view, spells the death of creativity. For a soul can create only when alone, and some are chosen for the flowering that takes place in the dark avenues of night.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Creativity, To Be Born Everyday
Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Prayer
Solitude is a necessary protest to the incursions and the false alarms of society’s hysteria, a period of cure and recovery.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Topics: Solitude
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Abraham Isaac Kook Latvian-born Jewish Rabbi
- Stephen Samuel Wise American Jewish Rabbi
- Moshe Chaim Luzzatto Italian Jewish Rabbi
- Joshua L. Liebman American Jewish Rabbi
- Moses Mendelssohn German Jewish Philosopher
- Harold Kushner American Rabbi, Author
- Berthold Auerbach German Novelist
- Bahya ibn Paquda Jewish Philosopher
- Albert Einstein German-born Theoretical Physicist
- Hyman Judah Schachtel American Jewish Religious Leader
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