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
integrity inspirational-life evil
Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. This is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.
life philosophy want
True philosophy must start from the most immediate and comprehensive fact of consciousness: 'I am life that wants to live, in the midst of life that wants to live
wise wisdom attitude
An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight... the truly wise person is colorblind.
doctors physicians patient
Within every patient there resides a doctor, and we as physicians are at our best when we we put our patients in touch with the doctor inside themselves.
attitude reality men
The great fault of all ethics hitherto has been that they believed themselves to have to deal only with the relations of man to man. In reality, however, the question is what is his attitude to the world and all life that comes within his reach.
life character adversity
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.
reverence-for-life ethics morality
Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.
argument life-is
My life is my argument.
heart men compassion
If there is anything I have learned about men and women, it is that there is a deeper spirit of altruism than is ever evident. Just as the rivers we see are minor compared to the underground streams, so, too, the idealism that is visible is minor compared to what people carry in their hearts unreleased or scarcely released.
gratitude grateful doe
He who does not reflect his life back to God in gratitude does not know himself.
brother century my-brother
The African is my brother but he is my younger brother by several centuries.
behaves clever man
Man is a clever aninmal who behaves like an imbecile.
heroes life suffering
There are no heroes of action: only heroes of renunciation and suffering - Out of My Life and Thoughts.
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.