WIST Quotations

Heschel, Abraham -- “No Religion Is an Island,” Union Theological Seminary Quarterly Review (Jan 1966)

Dave — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 17:33:48 +0000

Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
“No Religion Is an Island,” Union Theological Seminary Quarterly Review (Jan 1966)

Heschel, Abraham -- “The Religious Basis of Equality of Opportunity – The Segregation of God,” National Conference for Religion and Race, Chicago (1963)

Dave — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:06:19 +0000

The greatest heresy is despair, despair of men’s power for goodness, men’s power for love.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
“The Religious Basis of Equality of Opportunity – The Segregation of God,” National Conference for Religion and Race, Chicago (1963)

Heschel, Abraham -- “What Ecumenism Is” (1963)

Dave — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 16:47:20 +0000

A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers in himself harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
“What Ecumenism Is” (1963)
(Source)

Collected in Susanna Heschel, ed., Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity (1996). In other essays in the book, he uses the first clause ("a person who holds God and man in one thought, at one time, at all times") as a definition of a "prophet."

Heschel, Abraham -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 12:47:29 +0000

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
(Attributed)
(Source)

Quoted by his student, Harold S. Kushner, in When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough, ch. 3 (1986). Also attributed (without citation) to Milton Steinberg and Oscar Wilde.

Variants:

"When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am older, I admire kind people."
"When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people."

Heschel, Abraham -- God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, ch. 1 (1955)

Dave — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 04:53:42 +0000

Without reason we would not know how to apply the insights of faith to the concrete issues of living. … The rejection of reason is cowardice and betrays a lack of faith.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, ch. 1 (1955)

Heschel, Abraham -- God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, ch. 36 (1955)

Dave — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:50:31 +0000

All that is left to us is our being horrified at the loss of our sense of horror.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism, ch. 36 (1955)

Heschel, Abraham -- God in Search of Man, ch. 16 (1955)

Dave — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:42:07 +0000

Beyond all mystery is the mercy of God.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
God in Search of Man, ch. 16 (1955)

Heschel, Abraham -- God in Search of Man, ch. 42 “The Spirit of Judaism” (1976)

Dave — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:54:21 +0000

Religion has often suffered from the tendency to become parochial, self-indulgent, self-seeking; as if the task were not to ennoble human nature but to enhance the power and beauty of its institutions or to enlarge the body of doctrines. It has often done more to canonize prejudices than to wrestle for truth; to petrify the sacred than to sanctify the secular. Yet the task of religion is to be a challenge to the stabilization of values. Religion is not for religion’s sake but for God’s sake.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
God in Search of Man, ch. 42 “The Spirit of Judaism” (1976)

Full text.

Heschel, Abraham -- Man Is Not Alone, ch. 13 (1951)

Dave — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 14:51:44 +0000

An act is not good because we feel obliged to do it; it is rather that we feel obliged to do it because it is good.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
Man Is Not Alone, ch. 13 (1951)

Heschel, Abraham -- Man is Not Alone, ch. 19 (1951)

Dave — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:17:06 +0000

Life is not meaningful … unless it is serving an end beyond itself, unless it is of value to someone else.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
Man is Not Alone, ch. 19 (1951)

Heschel, Abraham -- The Insecurity of Freedom: Essays on Human Existance, ch. 3 (1967)

Dave — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 16:43:21 +0000

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say No to oneself.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Insecurity of Freedom: Essays on Human Existance, ch. 3 (1967)

Heschel, Abraham -- The Insecurity of Freedom, 5.3 (1967)

Dave — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:10:51 +0000

We appreciate what we share, we do not appreciate what we receive. Friendship, affection is not acquired by giving presents. Friendship, affection comes about by two people sharing a significant moment, by having an experience in common.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Insecurity of Freedom, 5.3 (1967)

Heschel, Abraham -- The Insecurity of Freedom, ch. 6 “Religion and Race” (3) (1963)

Dave — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:33:38 +0000

Our tragedy begins with the segregation of God, with the bifurcation of the secular and sacred. We worry more about the purity of dogma than about the integrity of love.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Insecurity of Freedom, ch. 6 “Religion and Race” (3) (1963)

Full text.

Heschel, Abraham -- The Prophets, 18 (1962)

Dave — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 04:59:03 +0000

Sympathy … is not an end in itself. … Not mere feeling, but action, will mitigate the world’s misery, society’s injustice, or the people’s alienation from God.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Prophets, 18 (1962)

Heschel, Abraham -- The Prophets, ch. 1 “What Manner of Man is the Prophet?” (1962)

Dave — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:19:53 +0000

Above all, the prophets remind us of the moral state of a people: Few are guilty, but all are responsible.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Prophets, ch. 1 “What Manner of Man is the Prophet?” (1962)
(Source)

At a New York City Town Hall speech (1966): "In a free society all are involved in what some are doing. Some are guilty, all are responsible."

Heschel, Abraham -- The Prophets, ch. 11 (1962)

Dave — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:30:38 +0000

An act of injustice is condemned, not because the law is broken, but because a person has been hurt.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Prophets, ch. 11 (1962)

Heschel, Abraham -- The Prophets, ch. 18 (1962)

Dave — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 12:36:57 +0000

Emotion is inseparable from being filled with the spirit, which is above all a state of being moved.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Prophets, ch. 18 (1962)

Heschel, Abraham -- The Prophets, Vol. 1 (1962)

Dave — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 19:48:42 +0000

This is what the prophets discovered. History is a nightmare. There are more scandals, more acts of corruption, than are dreamed of in philosophy. It would be blasphemous to believe that what we witness is the end of God’s creation. It is an act of evil to accept the state of evil as either inevitable or final. Others may be satisfied with improvement, the prophets insist upon redemption. The way man acts is a disgrace, and it must not go on forever.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
The Prophets, Vol. 1 (1962)

Heschel, Abraham -- Who Is Man? ch. 6 (1965)

Dave — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 16:30:19 +0000

There are inalienable obligations as well as inalienable rights.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
Who Is Man? ch. 6 (1965)

Heschel, Abraham -- Who Is Man?, ch. 6 (1965)

Dave — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:39:34 +0000

Failure to understand what is demanded of us is the source of anxiety.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
Who Is Man?, ch. 6 (1965)