Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer, OMwas a French-German theologian, organist, philosopher, and physician. He was born in the province of Alsace-Lorraine and although that region had been annexed by the German Empire four years earlier, and remained a German possession until 1918, he considered himself French and wrote mostly in French...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionDoctor
Date of Birth14 January 1875
CityKaysersberg, France
CountryGermany
cannot describe detail enabling grasp knowledge matters meaning progress purpose
The only progress that knowledge allows is in enabling us to describe more and more in detail the world we see and its evolution. What matters in a world-view is to grasp the meaning and purpose of everything, and that we cannot do.
granted work worth
It is not always granted to the sower to live to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith.
creatures humanity permit sympathy truly voice within
We must never permit the voice of humanity within us to be silenced. It is man's sympathy with all creatures that first makes him truly a man.
civilization humane humans ideal instead lacks lost men occupied realize seek sight solely thoughts
Our civilization lacks humane feeling. We are humans who are insufficiently humane! We must realize that and seek to find a new spirit. We have lost the sight of this ideal because we are solely occupied with thoughts of men instead of remembering th
life spiritual thinking
Renunciation of thinking is a declaration of spiritual bankruptcy. - Out of My Life and Thoughts.
custom humanity inherited protected roots strong succumb time
Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so strong as widespread. But the time must come where in humanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by th
difficult ethic love task
To think out in every implication the ethic of love for all creation... this is the difficult task which confronts our age.
answer hoping knowledge optimistic pessimist question whether willing
To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic
actual hour indeed seems special time truly truth unsuitable
Truth has not special time of its own. Its hour is now—always and indeed then most truly when it seems unsuitable to actual circumstances.
littles pay privilege
Seek always to do some good, somewhere... Even if it's a little thing, so something for those that need help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.
pain suicidal lord
Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself.
spiritual jesus mean
Jesus means something to our world because a mighty spiritual force streams forth from him and flows through our being also. This fact can neither be shaken nor confirmed by any historical discovery. It is the solid foundation of Christianity.
choices way up-to-you
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.
wise time simple
He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.