Civilization can only revive when there shall come into being in a number of individuals a new tone of mind independent of the one prevalent among the crowd and in opposition to it, a tone of mind which will gradually win influence over the collective one, and in the end determine its character. It is only an ethical movement which can rescue us from the slough of barbarism, and the ethical comes into existence only in individuals.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it's a little thing, do something for those who need help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.
-- Albert Schweitzer
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.
-- 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
An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight... The truly wise person is color-blind.
-- Albert Schweitzer
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.
-- Albert Schweitzer
As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.
-- Albert Schweitzer
As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible, but more mysterious.
-- Albert Schweitzer
By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world
-- Albert Schweitzer
Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
-- Albert Schweitzer
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.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Do not let Sunday be taken from you
-- Albert Schweitzer
Do something for somebody every day for which you do not get paid.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.
-- Albert Schweitzer
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 is evil.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Every man has to seek in his own way to make his own self more noble and to realize his own true worth.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Everything deep is also simple and can be reproduced simply as long as its reference to the whole truth is maintained. But what matters is not what is witty but what is true.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Example is leadership.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It's the only thing.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Grow into your ideals so that life cannot rob you of them.
-- Albert Schweitzer
From naive simplicity we arrive at more profound simplicity.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Happiness? That's nothing more than health and a poor memory.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
-- Albert Schweitzer
I am life which wills to live in the midst of life which wills to live.
-- Albert Schweitzer
I am life that wants to live, in the midst of life that wants to live.
-- 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
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
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
Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them.
-- Albert Schweitzer
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
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.
-- Albert Schweitzer
It is a man's sympathy with all creatures that truly makes him a man. Until he extends his circle of compassion to all living things, man himself will not find peace.
-- Albert Schweitzer
It is man's sympathy with all creatures that first makes him truly a man.
-- Albert Schweitzer
It is not enough merely to exist. It's not enough to say, 'I'm earning enough to support my family. I do my work well. I'm a good father, husband, churchgoer.' That's all very well. But you must do something more. Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it's a little thing, do something for those who need help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. For remember, you don't live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here, too.
-- Albert Schweitzer
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.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Let me give you a definition of ethics: It is good to maintain and further life
-- Albert Schweitzer
Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will
-- Albert Schweitzer
My life is my argument.
-- 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. The way in which power works is a mystery.
-- Albert Schweitzer
One does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.
-- Albert Schweitzer
A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.
-- Albert Schweitzer
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.
-- Albert Schweitzer
One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Serious illness doesn't bother me for long because I am too inhospitable a host.
-- 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
The awareness that we are all human beings together has become lost in war and through politics.
-- Albert Schweitzer
The first step in the evolution of ethics is an enlargement of the sense of solidarity with other human beings.
-- Albert Schweitzer
The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.
-- Albert Schweitzer
The future of civilization depends on our overcoming the meaninglessness and hopelessness that characterizes the thoughts of men today.
-- Albert Schweitzer
The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.
-- Albert Schweitzer
The quiet conscience is an invention of the devil.
-- Albert Schweitzer
The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.
-- Albert Schweitzer
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.
-- Albert Schweitzer
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.
-- Albert Schweitzer
There are two means of refuge from the misery of life
-- Albert Schweitzer
There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Therefore search and see if there is not some place where you may invest your humanity.
-- Albert Schweitzer
This new form of activity medicine I could not represent to myself as talking about the religion of love, but only as an actual putting it into practice.
-- Albert Schweitzer
To affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward, and to exalt the will to live.
-- Albert Schweitzer
To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Truth has not special time of its own. Its hour is now
-- Albert Schweitzer
Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.
-- Albert Schweitzer
We cannot possibly let ourselves get frozen into regarding everyone we do not know as an absolute stranger.
-- Albert Schweitzer
Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.
-- Albert Schweitzer
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.
-- 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
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