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Abraham Joshua Heschel

Abraham Joshua Heschel Quotes

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Famous Abraham Joshua Heschel Quotes

“The time for the kingdom may be far off, but the task is plain: to retain our share in God in spite of peril and contempt. There is a war to wage against the vulgar, the glorification of the absurd, a war that is incessant, universal. Loyal to the presence of the ultimate in the common, we may be able to make it clear that man is more than man, that in doing the finite he may perceive the infinite .”

MenMayWarAbleCommonClearShareTasksUltimateUniversalInfiniteKingdomsAbsurdPerceiveSpiteContemptLoyalVulgarFinitePerilIncessantGlorification
Book:Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays
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“In our daily lives we attend primarily to that which the senses are spelling out for us: to what the eyes perceive, to what the fingers touch. Reality to us is thinghood , consisting of substances that occupy space; even God is conceived by most of us as a thing. The result of our thinginess is our blindness to all reality that fails to identify itself as a thing, as a matter of fact.”

MatterFactsRealityEyeSpaceResultsFailingFingersSensesSubstancePerceiveDaily LifeBlindnessMatter Of FactSpelling
Book:Insecurity of Freedom
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“There are two primary ways in which mans relates himself to the world that surround him: manipulation and appreciation . In the first way he sees in what surrounds him things to be handled, forces to be managed, objects to be put to use. In the second way he sees in what surrounds him things to be acknowledged, understood, valued or admired.”

WorldWayFirstsTwoUseForceObjectsUnderstoodAppreciationPrimariesRelateManipulationSurround
Book:Who is Man?
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“Man is naturally self-centered and he is inclined to regard expediency as the supreme standard for what is right and wrong. However, we must not convert an inclination into an axiom that just as man's perceptions cannot operate outside time and space, so his motivations cannot operate outside expediency; that man can never transcend his own self. The most fatal trap into which thinking may fall is the equation of existence and expediency.”

ThinkingMenMaySelfMotivationFallSpaceExistencePerceptionStandardsRegardSupremeTrapsEquationsTime And SpaceInclinationSelf CenteredAxiomsExpediency
Author:Abraham Joshua Heschel
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“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.”

TodayLawEnergyPrinciplesParticularNegativeRegardAliensImpulseRejectsUnjustRenewalRevoltObsoleteSociety TodayRenewal Of Life
Book:Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays
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“Instead of indulging in jealousy, greed, in relishing themselves, there are men who keep their hearts alert to the stillness in which time rolls on and leaves us behind. ... those who are open to the wonder will not miss it. Faith is found in solicitude for faith, in an inner care for the wonder that is everywhere.”

MenHeartCareFoundBehindsWonderMissingGreedStillnessSolicitude
Book:Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays
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“Trust is the core of human relationships, of gregariousness among men. Friendship, a puzzle to the syllogistic and critical mentality, is not based on experiments or tests of another person's qualities but on trust. It is not critical knowledge but a risk of the heart which initiates affection and preserves loyalty in our fellow men.”

MenHumansHeartPersonsQualityRiskTestsFellowsAffectionCriticalLoyaltyCoreExperimentsPreservesMentalityPuzzlesFellow ManHuman RelationsHuman RelationshipsInitiateGregariousness
Book:Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays
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“The anchor of meaning resides in an abyss, deeper than the reach of despair. Yet the abyss is not not infinite; its bottom may suddenly be discovered within the confines of a human heart or under the debris of might doubts. This may be the vocation of man: to say "Amen" to being and to the Author of being; to live in defiance of absurdity, notwithstanding futility and defeat; to attain faith in God even in spite of God.”

MenHumansHeartMayMightDoubtDespairInfiniteBottomDefeatDeeperSpiteFaith In GodAbsurdityHuman HeartAbyssVocationAnchorsDefianceFutilityAmenDebris
Book:Who is Man?
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“Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart. Audacious longing, burning songs, daring thoughts, an impulse overwhelming the heart, usurping the mind--these are all a drive towards serving Him who rings our hearts like a bell. It is as if He were waiting to enter our empty, perishing lives.”

IfsMindHeartSongWaitingEmptyLongingRingsEndlessBurningImpulseServingOverwhelmingDaringBellsClingingPilgrimageShrinesAudaciousPerishing
Book:Man Is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion
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“Our age is one in which usefulness is thought to be the chief merit of nature; in which the attainment of power, the utilization of its resources is taken to be the chief purpose of man in God's creation. Man has indeed become primarily a tool-making animal, and the world is now a gigantic tool box for the satisfaction of his needs.”

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Book:God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism
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