Albert Schweitzer OM was an Alsatian polymath. He was a theologian, organist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran, Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of Jesus as depicted by the historical-critical method current at this time, as well as the traditional Christian view. This Albert Schweitzer quotes about service, love, life will motivate you.
Best Albert Schweitzer Quotes
- “We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” ~ Albert Schweitzer, Albert Schweitzer Quotes on happiness & success
- “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.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “At that point in life where your talent meets the needs of the world, that is where God wants you to be.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “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” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “If you own something you cannot give away, then you don’t own it, it owns you.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Just as white light consists of colored rays, so reverence for life contains all the components of ethics: love, kindliness, sympathy, empathy, peacefulness, and power to forgive.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
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“The only thing of importance, when we depart, will be the traces of love we have left behind.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Good is that which promotes life, evil is that which destroys life” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Any religion or philosophy which is not based on a respect for life is not a true religion or philosophy.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “You must not expect anything from others. It’s you, of yourself, of whom you must ask a lot. Only from oneself has one the right to ask everything and anything. This way it’s up to you – your own choices – what you get from others remains a present, a gift.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
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“Happiness is the only thing that multiplies when you share it.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The three most important ways to lead people are:… by example… by example… by example.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “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.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “There can be no Kingdom of God in the world without the Kingdom of God in our hearts.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kindness that stands behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
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“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The elemental fact, present in our consciousness every moment of our existence, is: I am the life that wills to live, in the midst of life that wills to live… The essence of the humane spirit is: Preserve life, promote life, help life to achieve its highest destiny. The essence of Evil is: Destroy life, harm life, hamper the development of life” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “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, Gratitude — the Secret of Life.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “No one can give a definition of the soul. But we know what it feels like. The soul is the sense of something higher than ourselves, something that stirs in us thoughts, hopes, and aspirations that go out to the world of goodness, truth, and beauty. The soul is a burning desire to breathe in this world of light and never to lose it–to remain children of light.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
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“Do something for somebody every day for which you do not get paid.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Reverence for Life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life and that to destroy, harm, or to hinder life is evil. Affirmation of the world – that is the affirmation of the will to live, which appears in phenomenal forms all around me – is only possible for me in that I give myself out for other life.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Whatever you have received more than others-in health, in talents, inability, in success, in a pleasant childhood, inharmonious conditions of home life-all this you must not take to yourself as a matter of course. In gratitude for your good fortune, you must remember in return some sacrifice of your own life for another life.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The result of the voyage does not depend on the speed of the ship, but on whether or not it keeps a true course.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
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“Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The true worth of a man is not to be found in the man himself, but in the colors and textures that come alive in others.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “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.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The disastrous feature of our civilization is that it is far more developed materially than spiritually. Its balance is disturbed.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Open your eyes and look for some man, or some work for the sake of men, which needs a little time, a little friendship, a little sympathy, a little sociability, a little human toil…It is needed in every nook and corner. Therefore search and see if there is not someplace where you may invest your humanity.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “For animals that are overworked, underfed, and cruelly treated; for all wistful creatures in captivity that beat their wings against bars; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death…and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words.” ~ Albert Schweitzer, Albert Schweitzer quotes on animals
- “Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “We must never allow the voice of humanity within us to be silenced. It is humanity’s sympathy with all creatures that first makes us truly human.” ~ Albert Schweitzer Quotes
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“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “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.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “When a man learns to respect even the smallest being of creation…nobody has to teach him to love his fellow man. Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
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“If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Nature compels us to recognize the fact of mutual dependence, each life necessarily helping the other lives who are linked to it. In the very fibers of our being, we bear within ourselves the fact of the solidarity of life.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “At 20 everyone has the face that God gave them, at 40 the face that life gave them, and at 60 the face they earned.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The witch doctor succeeds for the same reason all the rest of us succeed. Each patient carries his or her own doctor inside him or her. They come to us not knowing that truth. We are at our best when we give the doctor who resides within each patient a chance to go to work.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Eventually all things fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moments, and know EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “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.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “I do not know what your destiny maybe, but I do know this, that not one of you will find the happiness that each of you is seeking until you have first sought and found a way in which to unselfishly serve others.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
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“There is no higher religion than human service.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “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.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The interior joy we feel when we have done a good deed is the nourishment the soul requires.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The question of whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hope are optimistic.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The great enemy of morality is indifference.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The only way out of today’s misery is for people to become worthy of each other’s trust.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “Sincerity is the foundation of spiritual life.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
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“My life is my argument.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “By ethical conduct toward all creatures, we enter into a spiritual relationship with the universe.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “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.” ~ Albert Schweitzer, Albert Schweitzer quotes on life
- “Do not let Sunday be taken from you. If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “I still remain convinced that truth, love, peaceableness, meekness, and kindness are the violence that can master all other violence. The world will be theirs as soon as ever a sufficient number of people with purity of heart, with strength, and with perseverance think and live out the thoughts of love and truth, of meekness and peaceableness.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
- “The thinking (person) must oppose all cruel customs, no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
