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
men problem great-men
For us the great men are not those who solved the problems, but those whodiscovered them.
darkness world gathering
Help me to fling my life like a flaming firebrand into the gathering darkness of the world.
civilization movement ethical
Only an ethical movement can rescue us from barbarism, and the ethical comes into existence only in individuals.
animal compassion circles
We need a boundless ethic, one which will include the animals, too. Until we extend the circle of his compassions to all living things, we will not find peace.
advice example values
A good example has twice the value of good advice
overcoming separation natural
Mysticism occurs whenever a human being sees the separation between the natural and the supernatural, between the temporal and the eternal, as overcome.
alive today dogma
The Christ of Theology is not alive for us today. He is wrapped in the grave cloths of dogma.
men thinking evil
Once a man recognizes himself as a being surrounded by other beings in this world and begins to respect his life and take it to the highest value, he becomes a thinking being. Then he values other lives and experiences them as part of his own life. With that, his goal is to help everyone take their life to the highest value; anything which limits or destroys a life is evil. That is morality. That is how men are related to the world around them.
men thinking bears
Cold completely introspective logic places a philosopher on the road to the abstract. Out of this empty, artificial act of thinking there can result, of course, nothing which bears on the relation of man to himself, and to the universe.
disappointment heart waiting
Do not lose heart, even if you must wait a bit before finding the right thing. Be prepared for disappointment also, but do not abandon the quest.
community-service helping public-service
There is no higher religion than human service.
people understanding important
I look back upon my youth and realize how so many people gave me help, understanding, courage - very important things to me - and they never knew it. They entered into my life and became powers within me.
may made wells
We all owe to others much of the gentleness and wisdom that we have made our own; and we may well ask ourselves what will others owe to us
struggle fate guilty
In resigning ourselves to our fate without a struggle, we are guilty of inhumanity.