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
animal able quiet
Those who experiment on animals should never be able to quiet their own conscience by telling themselves that these cruelties have a worthy aim.
knowing-who-you-are forgiving noise
I must forgive without noise or fuss.
learning knowledge intelligence
As we acquire knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible, but more mysterious.
work done
All work that is worth anything is done in faith.
imperfect-world saving helping
We are gripped by God’s will of love, and must help carry out that will in this world, in small things as in great things, in saving as in pardoning. To be glad instruments of God’s love in this imperfect world is the service to which we are called.
animal past wish
In the past we have tried to make a distinction between animals which we acknowledge have some value and other which, having none, can be liquidated when we wish. This standard must be abandoned. Everything that lives has value simply as a living thing, as one of the manifestations of the mystery that is life.
birthday men sight
It is through the idealism of youth that man catches sight of truth, and in that idealism he possesses a wealth which he must never exchange for anything else.
damage-is-done giving definitions
Let me give you a definition of ethics: It is good to maintain and further life it is bad to damage and destroy life.
men giving may
No man need fear death, he need fear only that he may die without having known his greatest power: the power of his free will to give his life for others
father sleep evil
O heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath: guard them from all evil and let them sleep in peace.
god faith hope
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.
animal views way
My view is that we stand up for treating the animals in a considerate way, for completely renouncing the eating of meat and also for speaking out against it. This is what I do myself. And in this way many a one becomes aware of a problem that was put forward so late.
life ambition past
I have given up the ambition to be a great scholar. I want to be more- simply a human. . . . We are not true humans, but beings who live by a civilization inherited from the past, that keeps us hostage, that confines us. No freedom of movement. Nothing. Everything in us is killed by our calculations for our future, by our social position and cast. You see, I am not happy-yet I am happy. I suffer, but that is part of life. I live, I don't care about my existence, and that is the beginning of wisdom.
animal pet suffering
It doesn't matter if an animal can reason. It matters only that it is capable of suffering and that is why I consider it my neighbor.