Discover some inspirational Albert Schweitzer Quotes, for this I have compiled quotes by Albert Schweitzer on life and philosophy that may relate to you. Throughout his life, he shared his wisdom and insights through powerful quotes that continue to inspire generations.
The following is a selection of some of the most inspiring Albert Schweitzer quotes, highlighting his beliefs on the importance of serving others and living a life of meaning and purpose. Don’t forget to also read our collection of William James quotes to assist you in your difficult times.
Also read: 80+ Gratitude Quotes To Help You Appreciate the Simple Things in Life
Who is Albert Schweitzer:
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) was a German-French physician, theologian, and musician. He is primarily known for his work as an African physician and for his concept of “Reverence for Life,” which he established and extensively wrote about.
Schweitzer was born in Kaysersberg, Alsace-Lorraine (then part of Germany, now France) in 1875. He studied theology, philosophy, and music at the University of Strasbourg before graduating with a medical degree from the University of Paris. He also obtained a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Strasbourg for his thesis on Immanuel Kant’s philosophy.
Here are some facts about Albert Schweitzer:
- He chose to go to Africa to work as a medical missionary in 1913, and he founded a hospital in the community of Lambaréné in what is now Gabon.
- He worked at the hospital for the following 35 years, treating patients with a wide range of diseases and educating local medical personnel.
- Schweitzer was an outspoken advocate for the rights of Africa’s indigenous peoples and an early opponent of European colonization on the continent.
- He passed away in 1965, at the age of 90. His legacy lives on through the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, which provides medical care to Gabonese.
Awards and Achievements of Albert Schweitzer:
- He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 for his humanitarian efforts.
- The Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1953 by President Eisenhower.
- The Congressional Gold Medal in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Inspiring Quotes by 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.
Ethics is the activity of man directed to secure the inner perfection of his own personality.
Eventually, all things fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moments, and know everything happens for a reason.
You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it’s a little thing, do something for those who have 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.
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 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.
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.
Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.
The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others.
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.
Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
Only those who respect the personality of others can be of real use to them.
The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.
One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.
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 for those who have lighted the flame within us.
As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious thought begins.
Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being for a purpose.
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.
Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.
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.
Seek always to do some good, somewhere.
The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering the attitudes of their minds.
The African is my brother but he is my younger brother by several centuries.
No ray of sunlight is ever lost, but the green which it awakes into existence needs time to sprout, and it is not always granted to the sower to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith.
By respect for life, we become religious in a way that is elementary, profound, and alive.
A man does not have to be an angel to be a saint.
If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.
The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.
All art speaks in signs and symbols. No one can explain how it happens that the artist can waken to life in us the existence that he has seen and lives through.
Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not find peace.
Do not let Sunday be taken from you. If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.
Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.
The stronger the reverence for natural life, the stronger one grows also for that spiritual life.
An example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.
If you love something so much, let it go. If it comes back it was meant to be; if it doesn’t it was never meant to be.
Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation.
Man has lost the capacity to foresee and forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.
Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now – always.
We are united with all life that is in nature. Man can no longer live his life for himself alone.
A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.
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.
Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.
Affirmation of the world, which means the affirmation of the will to live that manifests itself around me, is only possible if I devote myself to the other life.
Happiness is the only thing that multiplies when you share it.
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.
Let me give you a definition of ethics: It is good to maintain and further life it is bad to damage and destroy life.
Grow into your ideals so that life cannot rob you of them.
Those who thank god much are the truly wealthy.
Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile
Serious illness doesn’t bother me for long because I am too inhospitable a host.
At that point in life where your talent meets the needs of the world, that is where God wants you to be.
We ought to all make an effort to act on our first thoughts and let our unspoken gratitude find expression.
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.
If you own something you cannot give away, then you don’t own it, it owns you.
Albert Schweitzer Quotes On Life and Happiness
Happiness? That’s nothing more than good health and poor memory.
The greatest thing to give is to give thanks for everything. He who has learned this knows what it means to live.
Good is that which promotes life, evil is that which destroys life.
The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.
Think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flames within us.
The three most important ways to lead people are:… by example… by example… by example.
In gratitude for your good fortune, you must remember in return some sacrifice of your own life for another life.
There can be no Kingdom of God in the world without the Kingdom of God in our hearts.
To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted.
Do something for somebody every day for which you do not get paid.
Just as the wind is driven to spend its force in the big empty spaces so must the people who know the laws of the spirit go where we are most needed.
The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.
The ‘Son of Man’ was buried in the ruins of the falling eschatological world; there remained alive only Jesus the Man’.
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.
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.
Jesus was called to throw himself on the wheel of world history, so that, even though it crushed him, it might start to turn in the opposite direction.
The disastrous feature of our civilization is that it is far more developed materially than spiritually. Its balance is disturbed.
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.
Only through love can we obtain communion with God.
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.
Don’t let your heart grow numb. Stay alert. It is your soul which matters.
In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.
To think out in every implication the ethic of love for all creation… this is the difficult task which confronts our age.
Love is the only thing that increases twofold every time it is shared.
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.
Does my behavior in respect of love affect anything? That is because there is not enough love in me.
There is no higher religion than human service.
The highest proof of the spirit is love. Love is the eternal thing that can already on earth possess as it really is.
The interior joy we feel when we have done a good deed is the nourishment the soul requires.
Regarding the question of whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willingness and hope are optimistic.
The only way out of today’s misery is for people to become worthy of each other’s trust.
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.
