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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.

Albert Schweitzer

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Albert Schweitzer
Age: 90 †
Born: 1875
Born: January 14
Died: 1965
Died: September 4
Composer
Missionary
Music Historian
Musicologist
Organist
Philosopher
Physician
Physician Writer
Theologian
University Teacher
Mont-Libre
Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer
Truly
Nonconformity
Help
Assist
Lives
Shrinks
Helping
Compulsion
Anything
Ethical
Able
Ethics
Men
Morality
Injuring
Life
Leadership
Obeys

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Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live unreflectively and begins to devote himself to his life with reverence in order to raise it to its true value. To affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward, and to exalt the will.
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It is a man's sympathy with all creatures that first makes him truly a man.
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By ethical conduct toward all creatures, we enter into a spiritual relationship with the universe.
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I too had thoughts once of being an intellectual, but I found it too difficult.
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Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.
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Joy, sorrow, tears, lamentation, laughter -- to all these music gives voice
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Only an ethical movement can rescue us from barbarism, and the ethical comes into existence only in individuals.
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The friend of nature is the man who feels himself inwardly united with everything that lives in nature, who shares in the fate of all creatures, helps them when he can in their pain and need, and as far as possible avoids injuring or taking life.
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I used to suffer particularly because the poor animals must endure so much pain and want. The sight of an old, limping horse being dragged along by one man while another man struck him with a stick he was being driven to the Colmar slaughterhouse - haunted me for weeks.
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Don't stop to ask whether the animal or plant you meet deserves your sympathy, or how much it feels, or even whether it can feel at all: respect it and consider all life sacred.
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No one may shut his eyes to think the pain, which is therefore not visible to him, is non-existent.
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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 some place where you may invest your humanity.
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The elemental fact, present in our consciousness every moment of our existence, is: I am 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
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The only thing of importance, when we depart, will be the traces of love we have left behind.
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The most difficult thing I have ever had to do is follow the guidance I prayed for.
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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.
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My life carries its own meaning in itself.
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Only those who respect the personality of others can be of real use to them.
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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.
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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.
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