The essence of man is not what he is, but in what he is able to be. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
How embarrassing for man to be the greatest miracle on earth and not to understand it! — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
A prophet's true greatness is his ability to hold God and man in a single thought. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
A religious man is a person... whose greatest passion is compassion. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
Wonder or radical amazement is the chief characteristic of the religious man's attitude toward history and nature. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
New insight begins when satisfaction comes to an end, when all that has been seen, said, or done looks like a distortion.… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
The riches of the soul are stored up in its memory. this is the test of character, not whether a man follows… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
The supremacy of expediency is being refuted by time and truth. Time is an essential dimension of existence defiant of man's power,… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
Faith is an awareness of divine mutuality and companionship, a form of communion between God and man. It is not a psychical… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
Normal consciousness is a state of stupor, in which the sensibility to the wholly real and responsiveness to the stimuli of the… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
Man is naturally self-centered and he is inclined to regard expediency as the supreme standard for what is right and wrong. However,… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
The primary purpose of prayer is not to make requests. The primary purpose is to praise, to sing, to chant. Because the… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
The time for the kingdom may be far off, but the task is plain: to retain our share in God in spite… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
Instead of indulging in jealousy, greed, in relishing themselves, there are men who keep their hearts alert to the stillness in which… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
Trust is the core of human relationships, of gregariousness among men. Friendship, a puzzle to the syllogistic and critical mentality, is not… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
There is a built-in sense of indebtedness in the consciousness of man, an awareness of owing gratitude, or being caled upon at… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
The anchor of meaning resides in an abyss, deeper than the reach of despair. Yet the abyss is not not infinite; its… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
Our age is one in which usefulness is thought to be the chief merit of nature; in which the attainment of power,… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
“The primitive mind finds it hard to realize an idea without the aid of imagination, and it is the realm of space where imagination… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
“There is a passion and drive for cruel deeds which only the awe and fear of God can soothe; there is a suffocating selfishness… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
Ultimately there is no power to narcissistic, self-indulgent thinking. Authentic thinking originates with an encounter with the world. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
“Usually we regard as meaningful that which can be expressed, and as meaningless that which cannot be expressed. Yet, the equation of the meaningful… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
Understanding God is not attained by calling into session all arguments for and against Him, in order to debate whether He is a reality… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself. It is a silent justification affording evil acceptability in society. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
Religion has become an impersonal affair, an institutional loyalty. It survives on the level of activities rather than in the stillness of commitment. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
The degree to which one is sensitive to other people's suffering, to other (people's) humanity, is the index of one's own humanity — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
Acceptance is appreciation, and the high value of appreciation is such that to appreciate appreciation seems to be the fundamental prerequisite for survival. Mankind… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
