I have one talent, and that is the capacity to be tremendously surprised, surprised at life, at ideas. This is to me the supreme Hasidic imperative: Don’t be old. Don’t be stale.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELRacism is man’s gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.
More Abraham Joshua Heschel Quotes
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Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.
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It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.
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When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
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Wonder, 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.
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For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs.
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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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When religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion, its message becomes meaningless.
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Society today is no longer in revolt against particular laws which it finds alien, unjust, and imposed, but against law as such, against the principle of law.
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Friendship, a puzzle to the syllogistic and critical mentality, is not based on experiments or tests of another person’s qualities but on trust.
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Understanding God is not attained by calling into session all arguments for and against Him, in order to debate whether He is a reality or a figment of the mind.
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to become aware of the ineffable is to part company with words…the tangent to the curve of human experience lies beyond the limits of language.
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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?
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To pray is to dream in league with God, to envision His holy visions.
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Being points beyond itself. Accustomed to think in terms of space, the expression “being points beyond itself” may be taken to denote a higher point in space.
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A soul can create only when alone.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL