To sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELTo sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELProximity 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 HESCHELWe must first peer into the darkness, feel strangled and entombed in the hopelessness of living without God, before we are ready to feel the presence of His living light.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThose who are open to the wonder will not miss it. Faith is found in solicitude for faith, in an inner care for the wonder that is everywhere.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELFaith like Job’s cannot be shaken becasue it is the result of having been shaken.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELWonder, or radical amazement, is a way of going beyond what is given in thing and thought, refusing to take anything for granted, to regard anything as final.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELA 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.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELBy the word of God the world was created.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThe beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELMan’s sin is in his failure to live what he is. Being the master of the earth, man forgets that he is the servant of God.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELOne of the major symptoms of the general crisis existent in our world today is our lack of sensitivity to words.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThere are no two hours alike. Every hour is unique and the only one given at the moment, exclusive and endlessly precious.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELDear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of your universe.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThe self is not the hub but the spoke of the revolving wheel. It is precisely the function of prayer to shift the center of living from self-consciousness to self-surrender.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELA soul can create only when alone.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELWhat is meant, however, is a higher category than being: the power of maintaining being.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL