Albert Schweitzer

Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives.

The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it.

A man does not have to be an angel in order to be a saint.

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.

Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.

The most valuable knowledge we can have is how to deal with disappointments.

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.

Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.

The human spirit is not dead. It lives on in secret... It has come to believe that 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.

The quiet conscience is an invention of the devil.

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.

Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.

The older one grows, the more one comes to resemble oneself.

Do not expect to be hailed as a benefactor when you are trying to get people to adopt something new and beneficial. You must be prepared to be regarded as a nuisance.

The witch-doctor succeeds for the same reason all the rest of us succeed. Each patient carries his own doctor inside him. They come to us not knowing that truth. We are at our best when we give the doctor who resides within each patient a chance to go to work.

Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself.

The doctor must give the patient who is incurable not only medical attention, but his whole human sympathy.

I wanted to be a doctor that I might be able to work without having to talk. For years I had been giving myself out in words and it was with joy that I had followed the calling of theological teacher and of preacher. But this new form of activity I could not represent to myself as being talking about the religion of love, but only as an actual putting it into practice.

The hospital is a temple of the human body and the human spirit.

The work of a doctor is not only to heal the body, but also to heal the soul.