Thunder in the Soul Quotes

“Within our awe we only know that all we own we owe.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God

“The words of the Bible are sources of spirit. They carry fire to the soul and evoke our lost dignity out of our hidden origins. Illumined, we suddenly remember, we suddenly recover the strength of endless longing to sense eternity in time.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God

“This was a religious problem, my father felt; people can want to be deceived. Do not deceive, the Kotzker rebbe insisted, and that also means do not deceive oneself by being gullible.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God

“Philosophy of religion conducted in this manner, then, celebrates humility before the divine, since the awareness of God’s overwhelming priority decenters us and puts us in our proper place.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God

“Heschel offered a galvanizing vision of Judaism that was at times sharply critical of the status quo, while remaining deeply anchored in tradition.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God

“This is the secret of the spirit, not disclosed to reason: the adaptation of the mind to what is sacred, intellectual humility in the presence of the supreme. The mind surrenders to the mystery of spirit, not in resignation but in love.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God

“That equality is a good thing, a fine goal, may be generally accepted. What is lacking is a sense of the monstrosity of inequality.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God

“Standing face to face with the world, we often sense a spirit which surpasses our ability to comprehend. The world is too much for us. It is crammed with marvel. The glory is not an exception but an aura that lies about all being, a spiritual setting of reality.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God

“The obligation falls upon us to foster in ourselves the sensibilities that modernity has suppressed or even denigrated. ... Without awe, our lives are impoverished, our society decays.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God