Harold S. Kushner
God does not cause our misfortunes. Some are caused by bad luck, some are caused by bad people, and some are simply an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal. living in a world of inflexible natural laws. The painful things that happen to us are not punishments for our misbehavior, nor are they in any way part of some grand design on God's part. Because the tragedy is not God's will, we need not feel hurt or betrayed by God when tragedy strikes. We can turn to Him for help in overcoming it, precisely because we can tell ourselves that God is as outraged by it as we are.Collection: Hurt
Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are.Collection: People
Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter.Collection: Soul
People who pray for miracles usually don't get miracles. But people who pray for courage, for strength to bear the unbearable, for the grace to remember what they have left instead of what they have lost, very often find their prayers answered. Their prayers help them tap hidden reserves of faith and courage that were not available to them before.Collection: Prayer
The purpose in life is not to win. The purpose in life is to grow and to share. "When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people's lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them.Collection: Inspirational
Is there an answer to the question of why bad things happen to good people?...The response would be…to forgive the world for not being perfect, to forgive God for not making a better world, to reach out to the people around us, and to go on living despite it all…no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it has happened.Collection: Asking Why
The happiest people I know are people who don't even think about being happy. They just think about being good neighbors, good people. And then happiness sort of sneaks in the back window while they are busy doing good.Collection: Inspirational
When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world.Collection: Change
At some of the darkest moments in my life, some people I thought of as friends deserted me-some because they cared about me and it hurt them to see me in pain; others because I reminded them of their own vulnerability, and that was more than they could handle. But real friends overcame their discomfort and came to sit with me. If they had not words to make me feel better, they sat in silence (much better than saying, "You'll get over it," or "It's not so bad; others have it worse") and I loved them for it.Collection: Hurt
If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soulCollection: Life
We do ourselves and others a disservice when we make old age something to be feared. Life is not a resource to be used up, so that the older we get, the less life we have left. Life is the accumulation of wisdom, love and experience of people encountered and obstacles overcome. The longer we live, the more life we possess.Collection: People
God is the light shining in the midst of darkness, not to deny that there is darkness in the world but to reassure us that we do not have to be afraid of the darkness because darkness will always yield to light. As theologian David Griffin puts in, God is all-powerful, His power enables people to deal with events beyond their control and He gives us the strength to do those things because He is with us.Collection: Powerful
You don't become happy by pursuing happiness. You become happy by living a life that means something.Collection: Sadness
But at the end, if we are brave enough to love, if we are strong enough to forgive, if we are generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness, and if we are wise enough to know that there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment that no other living creature will ever know, we can reenter paradise.Collection: Wise
The God I believe in is not so fragile that you hurt Him by being angry at him, or so petty that He will hold it against you for being upset with Him.Collection: Hurt
We are here to change the world with small acts of thoughtfulness done daily rather than with one great breakthrough.Collection: Small Acts
God is like a mirror. The mirror never changes, but everybody who looks at it sees something different.Collection: Faith
Integrity means being whole, unbroken, undivided. It describes a person who has united the different parts of his or her personality, so there is no longer a split in the soul ... For the person of integrity, life may not be easy but it is simple: Figure out what is right and do it. All other considerations come in second.Collection: Integrity
I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense.Collection: Life
When a mentally retarded child is born, the religious question we often ask is, "Why does God let this happen?" The better question to pose is to ask, "What kind of community should we be so that mental retardation isn't a barrier to the enjoyment of one's full humanity?"Collection: Religious
We can endure much more than we think we can; all human experience testifies to that. All we need to do is learn not to be afraid of pain. Grit your teeth and let it hurt. Don't deny it, don't be overwhelmed by it. It will not last forever. One day, the pain will be gone and you will still be there.Collection: Hurt
One of the basic needs of every human being is the need to be loved, to have our wishes and feelings taken seriously, to be validated as people who matter.Collection: Taken
There is no right way to do a wrong thing.Collection: Way
When your life is filled with the desire to see the holiness in everyday life, something magical happens: Ordinary life becomes extraordinary, and the very process of life begins to nourish your soul.Collection: Spiritual
Given the unfairness that strikes so many people in life, I would rather believe in a God of limited power and unlimited love and justice, rather than the other way around.Collection: God
That is why we have to make room in our lives for people who may sometimes disappoint or exasperate us. If we hold our friends to a standard of perfection, or if they do that to us, we will end up far lonelier than we want to be.Collection: People
There seems to be something in the human soul that causes us to think less of ourselves every time we do something wrong... And maybe it is good for us to feel that way. It may make us more sensitive to what we do wrong and move us to repent and grow.Collection: Moving
Our awareness of God starts where self-sufficiency ends.Collection: Self
You don't have to be religious to have a soul; everybody has one. You don't have to be religious to perfect your soul; I have found saintliness in avowed atheists.Collection: Religious
If we put our soul into our work, if, rather than just going through the motions, what we do flows from the deepest part of our being, then after a burst of creativity, we need to replenish our souls.Collection: Creativity
The path to God is rarely a steady climb upward. We climb, we fall back, and we climb higher again.Collection: Fall
We tend to take on the coloration of the setting in which we find ourselves.Collection: Settings
Only a life of goodness and honesty leaves us feeling spiritually healthy and human.Collection: Spiritual
Why bad things happen to good peopleCollection: Erosion
Our responding to life's unfairness with sympathy... may be the surest proof of all of God's reality.Collection: Life
Our human bodies are miracles, not because they defy laws of nature, but precisely because they obey them.Collection: Law
We don't have to be afraid of dying because it's not really death that scares us. We are afraid of not having lived.Collection: Dying
We cannot live without the knowledge that someone cares about us.Collection: Care
Fun can be the dessert of our lives but never its main course.Collection: Fun
Seek something outside your nine-to-five job as an additional source of fulfillment and as a way to feel the joy of helping others.Collection: Jobs
Integrity is not something that grownups have and adolescents can aspire to. Integrity is something that all of us, at all ages, are constantly striving for.Collection: Integrity
Sometimes we are simply "blown away" and in awe by finding ourselves in the presence of God. Other times, however, even when we are participating in acts of kindness-complimenting others, writing a check to charity, donating time to a good cause-we are oblivious to the miracle of what is happening at that moment.Collection: Kindness
I believe that God is totally moral, but nature, one of God's creatures, is not moral. Nature is blind.Collection: God
There is a Jewish notion that holiness is found with other people. To understand what life really is, one has to share it.Collection: People
History is written by winners, so most history books are about people who win.Collection: Book
I wish i spent more time at the office.Collection: Office
It explains why people come home from work or school and immediately switch on the television. They are not interested in the program much of the time, they do not even know what is on. But they are desperate for the sound of another human voice in their livesCollection: Home
When I talk to people who feel this emptiness and lack of fulfillment, I recommend they find a source of balance in their lives. I suggest they find a way to "give back" to the world in order to feel a sense of completeness.Collection: Order
People are so busy chasing happiness- if they would slow down and turn around, they would give it a chance to catch up with them.Collection: People
Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Those rewards create almost as many problems as they solve. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will be at least a little bit different for our having passed through it.Collection: Inspirational