Albert Schweitzer
The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.Collection: Moving
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.Collection: Pet
A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.Collection: Men
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.Collection: Success
The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.Collection: Sympathy
Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.Collection: Health
Example is leadership.Collection: Leadership
Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.Collection: Peace
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.Collection: Thankful
Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.Collection: Thankful
Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.Collection: Motivational
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.Collection: Thankful
Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now - always.Collection: Brainy
Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.Collection: Life
By respect for life we become religious in a way that is elementary, profound and alive.Collection: Respect
Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me.Collection: Experience
Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.Collection: Nature
Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will - his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.Collection: Faith
One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.Collection: Strength
We cannot possibly let ourselves get frozen into regarding everyone we do not know as an absolute stranger.
Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
The true worth of a man is not to be found in man himself, but in the colours and textures that come alive in others.
An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight... the truly wise person is colorblind.
The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
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 will have sought and found how to serve.
The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.
The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.
Ethics is the activity of man directed to secure the inner perfection of his own personality.
Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.
Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation.
Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.
The African is my brother but he is my younger brother by several centuries.
Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.
We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.
Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. For remember, you don't live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too.
Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.
My life is my argument.
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 stones upon it.
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.
A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.
Do not let Sunday be taken from you. If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.
Reverence for life is the highest court of appeal.
Everything deep is also simple and can be reproduced simply as long as its reference to the whole truth is maintained. But what matters is not what is witty but what is true.
Whoever is spared personal pain must feel himself called to help in diminishing the pain of others. We must all carry our share of the misery which lies upon the world.
Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.
The highest proof of the spirit is love. Love the eternal thing which can already on earth possess as it really is.
By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world By practicing reverence for life we become good, deep, and alive.
Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality.
Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being to a purpose.