As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.

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.

Example is leadership.

Ethics is the activity of man directed to secure the inner perfection of his own personality.

A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives.

Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

I can do no other than be reverent before everything that is called life. I can do no other than to have compassion for all that is called life. That is the beginning and the foundation of all ethics.

We cannot possibly let ourselves get frozen into regarding everyone we do not know as an absolute stranger.

Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.

The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.

Whoever is spared personal pain must feel himself called to help in diminishing the pain of others. We must all carry our share of the misery which lies upon the world.

Let me give you a definition of ethics: It is good to maintain and further life it is bad to damage and destroy life.

A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.

Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will - his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.

Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now - always.

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.

A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.

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

Do not let Sunday be taken from you If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.

Day by day we should weigh what we have granted to the spirit of the world against what we have denied to the spirit of Jesus, in thought and especially in deed.

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.

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

We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.

I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end.

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.

A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.

A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.

The true worth of a man is not to be found in man himself, but in the colours and textures that come alive in others.

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

Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.

The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.

Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality.

My life is my argument.

Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me.

Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.

By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world By practicing reverence for life we become good, deep, and alive.

By respect for life we become religious in a way that is elementary, profound and alive.

The highest proof of the spirit is love. Love the eternal thing which can already on earth possess as it really is.

Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.

One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong, it creates world history. If it is weak, it suffers world history.

I wanted to be a doctor that I might be able to work without having to talk because for years I had been giving myself out in words.

Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation.

Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being to a purpose.