Quotes From Many Traditions

Jalaluddin Rumi

“We give respect to form because it may contain truth.” —Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

13th century

“Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain which grows flowers, not thunder.”

—Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

13th centuray

“If you cannot offer your sincere heartfelt prayers, then offer your empty agnostic ones, for God in His mercy (also) accepts counterfeit coin."

—Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi 13th Century

African Proverb

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

—African Proverb

Helen Keller

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”

—Helen Keller

(January 27, 1880 - June 1, 1968)

Mahatma Gandhi

“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”

—Mahatma Gandhi

(October 2, 1869 - January 30, 1948)

Anonymous

“Save one life, you're a hero. Save a hundred lives, you're a nurse."

Rabbi Elazar

This teaching of Rabbi Elazar in the name of Rabbi Hanina was cited by Rabbi Shalom Schachter during the hesped [eulogy] for his father, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi zt”l (August 17, 1924 – July 4, 2014)

(17 Menachem Av 5684 – 5 Tammuz 5775)

אמר רבי אלעזר בשם רבי חנינא: תלמידי חכמים מרבים שלום בעולם, שנאמר (ישעיהו נ”ד) וכל

בניך לימודי ה‘ ורב שלום בניך. אל תקרי בניך אלא בוניך

Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Hanina: The disciples of the wise increase peace in

the world, as it says, “And all your children shall be taught of haShem, and great shall be the peace of your children.” Read not “banayikh” [your children] but “bonayikh” [your builders].

Rabbi-Zalman Schachter-Shalomi zt”l with Rabbi Stan Levy. (Photo by Leslie Goldman)

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

G-d is not a hypothesis derived from logical assumptions, but an immediate insight, self-evident as light. [G-d] is not something to be sought in the darkness with the light of reason. [G-d] is the light.

--Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

(January 11, 1907 - December 23, 1972)

A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old. It is easy to love children. Even tyrants and dictators make a point of being fond of children. But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture.

—Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

   (January 11, 1907 - December 23, 1972)

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. … get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.

—Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

   (January 11, 1907 - December 23, 1972)

Debbie Friedman

“Remember, out of what emerges from life’s painful challengeswill come our healing.”

—Debbie Friedman

   (February 23, 1950 – January 9, 2011)

Mark Twain

“Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heels that crushed it.”

--Mark Twain

(November 30,1835 - April 21, 1917)

Martin Luther King Jr.

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

(January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968)

Moineddin Jablonski

“Deepen your compassion. Love the wounded places in you that need healing. Open yourself to the Grace of illumination. Give freely of your joy. Share your neighbor’s burden. Through all these avenues, discover your Soul.

—Pir-O-Murshid Moineddin Jablonski (January 1, 1942 – 2001) (Successor to Murshid Samuel L. Lewis, Sufi Ruhaniat International)

Pastor Martin Niemoller

First They Came

They came first for the Communists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me

and by that time no one was left to speak up.

—Pastor Martin Niemöller

(January 14, 1892 - March 6, 1984)

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook

"Once a person accustoms himself or herself to hearing the voice of God issuing from everything, the supernal meaning now comes that has eluded the person and this is spiritual wisdom.

"For certainly, concealed and hidden spiritual wisdom contains divine meaning. Moreover, by means of getting in the habit of paying attention to the voice of God issuing from everything, the voice of God is revealed now in spiritual wisdom.

"Until finally, in the spiritual wisdom itself, one finds the true appearance of God.

"And everyone who continues to search and philosophize increases the holiness of faith and cleaving [to God] and the light of the spirit of holiness."

—Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook

(September 7, 1865 - September 1, 1935)

Rabbi Israel Salanter

This quotation appears on a display wall at the Diaspora Museum on the campus of Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel.

“A rabbi whose community does not disagree with him is no rabbi. A rabbi who fears his community is no man.”

—Rabbi Israel Salanter

Rabbi Rami Shapiro

“When an airline loses your baggage, be annoyed.

When your therapist helps you do the same, be grateful.”

—Rabbi Rami Shapiro

Sri Nur Sargadatha

Love tells me I’m everything.

Wisdom tells me I’m nothing.

And between the two my life flows.

—Sri Nur Sargadatha