We worry a great deal about the problem of church and state. Now what about the church and God?
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELThe riches of the soul are stored up in its memory. this is the test of character, not whether a man follows the daily fashion, but whether the past is alive in his present.
More Abraham Joshua Heschel Quotes
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To sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.
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Sometimes there seems to be a greater separation between the church and God than between the church and state.
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Philosophy, to be relevant, must offer us a wisdom to live by.
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A soul can create only when alone.
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The primary purpose of prayer is not to make requests. The primary purpose is to praise, to sing, to chant. Because the essence of prayer is a song, and man cannot live without a song.
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To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments.
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(People achieve) fullness of being in fellowship, in care for others.
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Every little deed counts.
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People are anxious to save up financial means for old age; they should also be anxious to prepare a spiritual means for old age….
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A prophet’s true greatness is his ability to hold God and man in a single thought.
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We do not step out of the world when we pray; we merely see the world in a different setting.
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When religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion, its message becomes meaningless.
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Human being is both being in the world and living in the world. Living involves responsible understanding of one’s role in relation to all other beings.
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The road to the sacred leads through the secular.
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Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.
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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.
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When I see an act of evil I don’t accomodate, I don’t accomodate myself to the violence that goes on everywhere.
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Life without commitment is not worth living.
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Prayer begins at the edge of emptiness.
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It is not a psychical quality, something that exists in the mind only, but a force from the beyond.
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Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions.
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When we pray, we bring G-d into the world
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To serve does not mean to surrender but to share.
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We can never sneer at the stars, mock the dawn, or scoff at the totality of being.
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What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe.
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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