Quotes from Abraham Joshua Heschel
Sanctification is dependent upon human behavior and attitude.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays; the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath. It is not an interlude but the climax of living.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
Within our awe we only know that all we own we owe.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
We may assume it is God we care for, but it may be our own ego we are concerned with. To examine our religious existence is, therefore, a task to be performed constantly.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
With information we are alone; in appreciation we are with all things.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
To us, recollection is a holy act; we sanctify the present by remembering the past. To us Jews, the essence of faith is memory. To believe is to remember.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
We must not forget that it is not a thing that lends significance to a moment; it is the moment that lends significance to things.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself. It is a silent justification affording evil acceptability in society.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
The grand premise of religion is that man is able to surpass himself.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
For the pious person, destiny means not simply to accomplish, but to contribute.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
Wonder or radical amazement is the chief characteristic of the religious man's attitude toward history and nature.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
God is not a hypothesis derived from logical assumptions, but an immediate insight, self-evident as light. He is not something to be sought in the darkness with the light of reason. He is the light.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel