Albert Schweitzer Quotes

Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now – always.

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

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.

A good example has twice the value of good advice

Knowing all truth is less than doing a little bit of good.

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.

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.

The the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hope are optimistic.

You must not expect anything from others. It’s you, of yourself, of whom you must ask a lot. Only from oneself has one the right to ask everything and anything. This way it’s up to you – your own choices – what you get from others remains a present, a gift.

The highest proof of the spirit is love. Love the eternal thing which can already on earth possess as it really is.

If you own something you cannot give away, then you don’t own it, it owns you.

Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them.

The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help 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.

Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.