List of Abraham Joshua Heschel Quotes

Society Today Is No Longer In Revolt Against Particular Laws Which It Finds Alien, Unjust, And Imposed, But Against Law As Such, Against The Principle Of Law. And Yet We Must Not Regard This Revolt As Entirely Negative. The Energy That Rejects Many Obsolete Laws Is An Entirely Positive Impulse For Renewal Of Life And Law.

The Issue Of Prayer Is Not Prayer; The Issue Of Prayer Is God. One Cannot Pray Unless He Has Faith In His Own Ability To Accost The Infinite, Merciful, Eternal God.

Being Points Beyond Itself. Accustomed To Think In Terms Of Space, The Expression "being Points Beyond Itself" May Be Taken To Denote A Higher Point In Space. What Is Meant, However, Is A Higher Category Than Being: The Power Of Maintaining Being.

Only Those Will Apprehend Religion Who Can Probe Its Depth, Who Can Combine Intuition And Love With The Rigor Of Method

Celebration Is A Confrontation, Giving Attention To The Transcendent Meaning Of One's Actions.

Those Of Faith Who Plant Sacred Thoughts In The Uplands Of Time, The Secret Gardeners Of The Lord In Mankind's Desolate Hopes, May Slacken And Tarry But Rarely Betray Their Vocation.

The Supremacy Of Expediency Is Being Refuted By Time And Truth. Time Is An Essential Dimension Of Existence Defiant Of Man's Power, And Truth Reigns In Supreme Majesty, Unrivaled, Inimitable, And Can Never Be Defeated.

Human Being Is Both Being In The World And Living In The World. Living Involves Responsible Understanding Of One's Role In Relation To All Other Beings. For Living Is Not Being In Itself, But Living Of The World, Affecting, Exploiting, Consuming, Comprehending, Deriving, Depriving.

A Prophet's True Greatness Is His Ability To Hold God And Man In A Single Thought.

Faith Is An Awareness Of Divine Mutuality And Companionship, A Form Of Communion Between God And Man. It Is Not A Psychical Quality, Something That Exists In The Mind Only, But A Force From The Beyond.

Being Is Transcended By A Concern For Being. Our Perplexity Will Not Be Solved By Relating Human Existence To A Timeless, Subpersonal Abstraction Which We Call Essence. We Can Do Justice To Human Being Only By Relating It To The Transcendent Care For Being.

Acceptance Is Appreciation, And The High Value Of Appreciation Is Such That To Appreciate Appreciation Seems To Be The Fundamental Prerequisite For Survival. Mankind Will Not Die For Lack Of Information; It May Perish For Lack Of Appreciation.