Quotes from Abraham Joshua Heschel

Worship is a way of seeing the world in the light of God.

Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.

Our concern is not how to worship in the catacombs but how to remain human in the skyscrapers.

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline...

Man's sin is in his failure to live what he is. Being the master of the earth, man forgets that he is the servant of God.

The course of life is unpredictable... no one can write his autobiography in advance.

We are closer to God when we are asking questions than when we think we have the answers

Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.

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 meaning of one's actions. Source: The Wisdom of Heschel

Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me.

When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people.

Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge.

Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.

The primary purpose of prayer is not to make requests. The primary purpose is to praise, to sing, to chant. Because the essence of prayer is a song, and man cannot live without a song. Prayer may not save us. But prayer may make us worthy of being saved.

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

A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old. It is easy to love children. Even tyrants and dictators make a point of being fond of children. But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture.

The worship of reason is arrogance and betrays a lack of intelligence. The rejection of reason is cowardice and betrays a lack of faith.

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

The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living.

Prayer begins at the edge of emptiness.

We can never sneer at the stars, mock the dawn, or scoff at the totality of being.

Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.

The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions.