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Why are human beings so obsequious, ready to kill and ready to die at the call of kings and chieftains? Perhaps it is because they worship might, venerate those who command might, and are convinced that it is by force that man prevails. The splendor and the pride of kings blind the people.

— Abraham Joshua Heschel

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More quotes by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Faith is not belief, an assent to a proposition, faith is attachment to the meaning beyond the mystery.

Who Is Man? (1965)

Love of ultimate meaning is not self-centered but rather a concern to transcend the self.

Who Is Man? (1965)

We manipulate what is available on the surface of the world; we must also stand in awe before the mystery of the world.

Who Is Man? (1965)

My power of probing is easily exhausted, my words fade, but what I sense is not emptiness but inexhaustible abundance, ineffable abundance.

Who Is Man? (1965)

Faith is something that comes out of the soul. It is not an information that is absorbed but an attitude, existing prior to the formulation of any creed.

Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays (1997)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Abraham Joshua Heschel (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.