When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
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 Image
(People achieve) fullness of being in fellowship, in care for others. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
(People) can never attain fulfillment, or sense of meaning, unless it is shared, unless it pertains to other human beings. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
God is everywhere or nowhere, the father of all people or of none, concerned about everything or nothing. Only in His presence… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
People are anxious to save up financial means for old age; they should also be anxious to prepare a spiritual means for… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
Mundus vult decipi'—the world wants to be deceived. To live without deception presupposes standards beyond the reach of most people whose existence… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state--it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle… Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
Indeed, the sort of crimes and even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice--cheating in business, exploitation of the poor--is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us injustice is injurious to… — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share
“The primitive mind finds it hard to realize an idea without the aid of imagination, and it is the realm of space where imagination wields its sway. Of the gods it must have a visible image; where there is no image, there is no god. The reverence for the sacred image, for the sacred monument or place, is not only… — 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 Image
People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state--it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle… Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent… — 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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself. It is a silent justification affording evil acceptability in society. — Abraham Joshua Heschel Copy Share Image
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 Image
