SundayMay 17, 2026
Quotes: 53419 Authors: 9969
A heavy guilt rests upon us for what the whites of all nations have done to the colored peoples. When we do good to them, it is not benevolence-it is atonement.
Happiness? That's nothing more than good health and a poor memory.
Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.
Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly, even if they roll a few more upon it.
An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere. The pessimist sees only the red light. But the truly wise person is color blind.
Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world any more. There is always something to make you wonder, in the shape of a leaf, the trembling of a tree.
A flock of wild geese had settled to rest on a pond. One of the flock had been captured by a gardener, who had clipped its wings before releasing it. When the geese started to resume their flight, this one tried frantically, but vainly, to lift itself into the air. The others, observing his struggles, flew about in obvious efforts to encourage him; but it was no use. Thereupon, the entire flock settled back on the pond and waited, even though the urge to go on was strong within them. For several days they waited until the damaged feather had grown sufficiently to permit the goose to fly. Meanwhile, the unethical gardener, having been converted by the ethical geese, gladly watched them as they finally rose together and all resumed their long flight.
I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.
Example is leadership.
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
It is through the idealism of youth that man catches sight of truth, and in that idealism he possesses a wealth which he must never exchange for anything else.
In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives.
Love ... is a living reality.
You ask me for a motto. Here it is: SERVICE.
Today ... we know that all living beings who strive to maintain life and who long to be spared pain all living beings on earth are our neighbors.
You dont live in a world all alone. Your brothers are here too.
The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.
I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end.
Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will his personal responsibility.
Reverence for life is the highest court of appeal.
Reverence for life ... does not allow the scholar to live for his science alone, even if he is very useful ... the artist to exist only for his art, even if he gives inspiration to many.... It refuses to let the business man imagine that he fulfills all legitimate demands in the course of his business activities. It demands from all that they should sacrifice a portion of their own lives for others.
One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong, it creates world history. If it is weak, it suffers world history.
Every man has to seek in his own way to make his own self more noble and to realize his own true worth.
When people have light in themselves, it will shine out from them. Then we get to know each other as we walk together in the darkness, without needing to pass our hands over each other's faces, or to intrude into each other's hearts.
One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.
Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live unreflectively and begins to devote himself to his life with reverence in order to raise it to its true value. To affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward, and to exalt the will to live.
Until he extends his circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.
A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.
It is man's sympathy with all creatures that first makes him truly a man.
Any religion or philosophy which is not based on a respect for life is not a true religion or philosophy.
Late upon the third day, at the very moment when, at sunset ... there flashed upon my mind, unforseen and unsought, the phrase 'Reverence for Life'.
It is not always granted to the sower to see the harvest.
Truth has not special time of its own. Its hour is now always and, indeed then most truly, when it seems unsuitable to actual circumstances.
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