Albert Schweitzer citáty

page 3

„Niekedy naše svetlo zhasne, ale plameň okamžite vzbĺkne znovu, keď sa stretnete s iným človekom.“

„Všetci by sme mali byť vďační za tých ľudí, ktorí oživujú nášho vnútorného ducha.“

„Ak niečo príliš milujete, nechajte to odísť. Ak sa to k vám vráti späť, tak to tak malo byť. Ak nie, nebolo tomu priané.“

„Urobte niečo úžasné, ľudia to možno napodobnia.“

„Neustála láskavosť dokáže veľa. Tak ako slnko roztápa ľad, láskavosť spôsobuje, že sa nedorozumenia, nedôvera a nepriateľstvo vyparujú.“

„Skutočne šťastný ľudia sú len tí, ktorí hľadali a našli spôsob, ako môžu slúžiť.“

„Modlitby nemenia svet. Modlitby však menia ľudí a ľudia menia svet.“

„Keby sa ľudia v dospelosti stávali tým, po čom túžia v štrnástich rokoch, bol by celý svet celkom iný.“

„Medzi ľuďmi vládne príliš veľa chladu, lebo si nedovolíme byť takí srdeční, ako sme.“

„Budúcnosť ľudstva závisí od toho, či sa každý na svojom mieste bude voči ostatným ľuďom správať ako ozajstný človek.“

„Jedine v dobe, ktorá prináša odvahu k pravde, môže pravda pôsobiť ako duchovná sila, základom duchovného života nemôže byť nič iné, ako pravda.“

„Náboženstvo je viac ako poprenie sveta a života.“

„Pane, tu je môj život. Kladiem ho dnes na oltár. Nalož s ním podľa svojej vôle.“

„Ako vlna nejestvuje sama osebe, ale vždy je súčasťou pohybu oceánu, tak ani my nemôžeme prechádzať životom sami, ale vždy máme účasť na skúsenosti…“

„Jediné, čo bude dôležité, keď odídeme, budú stopy lásky, ktoré sme zanechali.“

„Ochrana zvierat je výchova k ľudskosti.“

„Optimista je človek, ktorý vidí všade zelené svetlo, pokým pesimista vidí všade červené… Skutočne múdry človek je farboslepý.“

„Si taký mladý, ako tvoja sebadôvera a taký starý ako tvoj strach. Si taký mladý ako tvoja nádej a taký starý ako tvoja malovernosť. Si taký mladý ako tvoja láska a taký starý ako tvoje sebectvo.“

„Jediné, na čom záleží, je usilovať sa o to, aby v nás bolo svetlo a láska.“

„Naozaj šťastní sú tí, ktorí hľadali cestu k službe iným a túto cestu našli.“

„Dôvera je pre každé podnikanie prevádzkový kapitál, bez ktorého sa žiadne dielo nepodarí.“

„Nech sa každý snaží v tom prostredí, v ktorom žije, aby prejavil svojmu blížnemu naozajstný humanizmus, na ktorom záleží budúcnosť ľudstva.“

„Zriecť sa myslenia, to znamená duchovný bankrot.“

„Čo dá človek svetu z dobrotivosti, to v srdciach a myšlienkach ľudí pracuje.“

„Dobrý príklad nie je jednou z možností ovplyvniť iných ľudí. Je to jediná možnosť.“

„Humanita spočíva v tom, aby človek nikdy nebol obetovaný pre cieľ.“

„Láska je čin.“

„Neviem, aký bude váš osud, ale jedno viem: Skutočne šťastní budú len tí z vás, ktorí budú chcieť slúžiť a odhalia, ako to robiť.“

„Niekedy svetlo v nás už dohasína, všetci by sme mali prejavovať najhlbšiu vďaku tým, ktorí svetlo v nás znovu zapálili.“

„Sloboda spočíva predovšetkým v možnosti robiť to, čo nám prikazuje svedomie.“

„Slobodné myslenie, ak je dosť hlboké, neprepadne subjektivizmu. Spolu s vlastnými myšlienkami uvádza do pohybu aj tie, ktoré ako platnú pravdu prináša tradícia. Usiluje sa osvojiť si ich osobným poznaním. Rovnako silná, ako je vôľa k pravde, musí byť aj vôľa k pravdivosti. Len tá epocha, ktorá má odvahu byť pravdivá, môže dospieť k pravde pôsobiacej duchovnou silou.“

„Žiadna budúcnosť nenapraví, čo premeškáš v prítomnosti.“

„Žiadny človek nie je inému človeku úplne a trvalo cudzí.“

„Žiaden slnečný lúč sa nestratí, ale zeleň, ktorú prebúdza, potrebuje čas, aby vzklíčila.“

„Kým človek nerozšíri kruh svojho súcitu na všetko živé, sám nenájde pokoj.“

„Úspech nie je kľúčom k šťastiu. Šťastie je kľúčom k úspechu. Ak máte radi to, čo robíte, budete úspešní.“

„Kamkoľvek sa človek obráti, nájde niekoho, kto ho potrebuje.“

„Ten, kto získava silu prekonávaním prekážok, už vlastní tú jedinú silu, ktorá dokáže prekonať nepriazeň osudu.“

„Nikdy nehovorte, že na svete už nie je nič krásne. Vždy sa nájde niečo, čo vás prinúti žasnúť, či sa to už skrýva v tvare stromu, alebo vo chvení listu - vždy sa niečo nájde.“

„Vzor nie je pri formovaní iných to hlavné. Je to jediná dôležitá vec.“

“O heavenly Father,
protect and bless all things
that have breath: guard them
from all evil and let them sleep in peace.”

“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.”

“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."”

“The deeper we look into nature, the more we recognize that it is full of life, and the more profoundly we know that all life is a secret and that we are united with all life that is in nature. Man can no longer live for himself alone. We realize that all life is valuable, and that we are united to all this life. From this knowledge comes our spiritual relationship to the universe.”

“The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others.”

“Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don't live in a world all of your own.”

“Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they even roll a few more upon it.”

“The doctor of the future will be oneself.”

“No ray of sunshine is ever lost but the green that it awakens takes time to sprout, and it is not always given the sower to see the harvest.”

“Soldiers' graves are the greatest preachers of peace.”

“If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.”

“The demands of Jesus are difficult because they require us to do something extraordinary. At the same time He asks us to regard these [acts of goodness] as something usual, ordinary.”

“I am life which wants to live admidst of lives that want to live.”

“Everyone must work to live, but the purpose of life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others. Only then have we ourselves become true human beings.”

“The man who dares to live his life with death before his eyes, the man who receives life back bit by bit and lives as though it did not belong to him by right but has been bestowed on him as a gift, the man who has such freedom and peace of mind that he has overcome death in his thoughts — such man believes in eternal life because it is already his, it is a present experience, and he already benefits from its peace and joy. He cannot describe this experience in words. He may not be able to conform his view with the traditional picture of it. But one thing he knows for certain: Something within us does not pass away, something goes on living and working wherever the kingdom of the spirit is present. It is already working and living within us, because in our hearts we have been able to reach life by overcoming death.”

“The ideal "Life of Jesus" [biography] at the close of the nineteenth century is the "Life" which Heinrich Julius Holtzmann did not write — but which can be pieced together from his commentary on the synoptic gospels and his new testament theology. It is ideal because, for one thing, it is unwritten, and arises only in the idea of the reader by the aid of his own imagination, and, for another, because it is traced only in the most general outline.”

“The mistake made by all previous systems of ethics has been the failure to recognize that life as such is the mysterious value with which they have to deal. All spiritual life meets us within natural life. Reverence for life, therefore, is applied to natural life and spiritual life alike. In the parable of Jesus, the shepherd saves not merely the soul of the lost sheep but the whole animal. The stronger the reverence for natural life, the stronger grows also that for spiritual life.”

“Those who thank God much are the truly wealthy. So our inner happiness depends not on what we experience but on the degree of our gratitude to God, whatever the experience.”

“Never for a moment do we lay aside our mistrust of the ideals established by society, and of the convictions which are kept by it in circulation. We always know that society is full of folly and will deceive us in the matter of humanity. … humanity meaning consideration for the existence and the happiness of individual human beings.”

“We cannot abdicate our conscience to an organization, nor to a government. 'Am I my brother's keeper?' Most certainly I am! I cannot escape my responsibility by saying the State will do all that is necessary. It is a tragedy that nowadays so many think and feel otherwise.”

“The only way out of today's misery is for people to become worthy of each other's trust.”

“Faith which refuses to face indisputable facts is but little faith. Truth is always gain, however hard it is to accommodate ourselves to it. To linger in any kind of untruth proves to be a departure from the straight way of faith.”

“Indian thought has greatly attracted me since in my youth I first became acquainted with it through reading the works of Arthur Schopenhauer. From the very beginning I was convinced that all thought is really concerned with the great problem of how man can attain to spiritual union with infinite Being. My attention was drawn to Indian thought because it is busied with this problem and because by its nature it is mysticism. What I liked about it also was that Indian ethics are concerned with the behaviour of man to all living beings and not merely with his attitude to his fellow-man and to human society.”

“Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That 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.”

“As long as I can remember, I have suffered because of the great misery I saw in the world. I never really knew the artless, youthful joy of living, and I believe that many children feel this way, even when outwardly they seem to be wholly happy and without a single care.”

“Not one of us knows what effect his life produces, and what he gives to others; that is hidden from us and must remain so, though we are often allowed to see some little fraction of it, so that we may not lose courage.”

“It is the fate of 'little faiths' of truth that they, true followers of Peter, whether they be Roman or the Protestant observance, cry out and sink in the sea of ideas, where the followers of Paul, believing in the Spirit, walk secure and undismayed.”

“Every start upon an untrodden path is a venture which only in unusual circumstances looks sensible and likely to be successful.”

“Whoever has looked into the eyes of Jesus as he appears to us in his words knows that true happiness consists of service to this great One and his Spirit — and a life offerred to his work. Those who accept this mode of life, who know how to live it, become brothers and sisters.”