Albert Schweitzer Quotes (123 Quotes)

My life is my argument.

Whoever is spared personal pain must feel himself called to help in diminishing the pain of others. We must all carry our share of the misery which lies upon the world.

I too had thoughts once of being an intellectual, but I found it too difficult.

A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.

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.

Because I have confidence in the power of truths and of spirit, I believe in the future of mankind.- The Philosophy of Civilization.

Reverence for life is the highest court of appeal.

The city of truth cannot be built on the swampy ground of skepticism.

Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now - always.

Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.

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.

Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. Extract from 'Memories of childhood and youth.'

Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.

Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live unreflectively and begins to devote himself to his life with reverence in order to raise it to its true value. To affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward, and to exalt the will to live.

It is not always granted to the sower to live to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith.

Happiness That's nothing more than good health and a poor memory.

It is not always granted to the sower to see the harvest.

Every man has to seek in his own way to make his own self more noble and to realize his own true worth.

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.

Do something for somebody everyday for which you do not get paid.

Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.

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.

Reverence for Life Revisited Albert Schweitzer's Relevance Today.

Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so strong as widespread. But the time must come where in humanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by th

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.

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.

The only progress that knowledge allows is in enabling us to describe more and more in detail the world we see and its evolution. What matters in a world-view is to grasp the meaning and purpose of everything, and that we cannot do.

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.

When people have light in themselves, it will shine out from them. Then we get to know each other as we walk together in the darkness, without needing to pass our hands over each other's faces, or to intrude into each other's hearts.

The quiet conscience is an invention of the devil.

By respect for life we become religious in a way that is elementary, profound and alive.

From naive simplicity we arrive at more profound simplicity.

To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic.

Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives.

One thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

No one has ever come back from the other world. I can't console you, but one thing I can tell you, as long as my ideas are alive I will be alive. We live in a dark frightening age. One reason for this is the part played by the ideology of inhumanity

A heavy guilt rests upon us for what the whites of all nations have done to the colored peoples. When we do good to them, it is not benevolence-it is atonement.

We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.

Our civilization lacks humane feeling. We are humans who are insufficiently humane We must realize that and seek to find a new spirit. We have lost the sight of this ideal because we are solely occupied with thoughts of men instead of remembering th

Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will - his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.

Man's ethics must not end with man, but should extend to the universe. He must regain the consciousness of the great Chain of Life from which he cannot be separated. He must understand that all creation has its value... Life should only be negated wh

If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.

Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality.

Example is leadership.

Through the power which we win over the forces of nature we get also a gruesome kind of power over our fellow human beings. - Out of My Life and Thoughts.

We cannot possibly let ourselves get frozen into regarding everyone we do not know as an absolute stranger.

The true worth of a man is not to be found in man himself, but in the colours and textures that come alive in others.

Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.

Love ... is a living reality.

You dont live in a world all alone. Your brothers are here too.