It is dangerous to take human freedom for granted, to regard it as a prerogative rather than as an obligation, as an ultimate fact rather than as an ultimate goal.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELSelf-respect is the root of discipline
More Abraham Joshua Heschel Quotes
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The utilization of its resources is taken to be the chief purpose of man in God’s creation.
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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.
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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.
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Prayer cannot bring water to parched fields, or mend a broken bridge, or rebuild a ruined city; but prayer can water an arid soul, mend a broken heart, and rebuild a weakened will.
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Instead of indulging in jealousy, greed, in relishing themselves, there are men who keep their hearts alert to the stillness in which time rolls on and leaves us behind.
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That man can never transcend his own self. The most fatal trap into which thinking may fall is the equation of existence and expediency.
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Knowledge-like the sky- is never private property. No teacher has a right to withhold it from anyone who asks for it. Teaching is the art of sharing.
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Mankind will not die for lack of information; it may perish for lack of appreciation.
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Faith is an awareness of divine mutuality and companionship, a form of communion between God and man.
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We forfeit the right to worship God as long as we continue to humiliate negroes. … The hour calls for moral grandeur and spiritual audacity.
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Every little deed counts.
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Sometimes we wish the world could cry and tell us about that which made it pregnant with fear-filling grandeur. Sometimes we wish our own heart would speak of that which made it heavy with wonder.
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People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained.
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But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture.
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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.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL