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Not the individual man nor a single generation by its own power can erect the bridge that leads to God. Faith is the achievement of many generations, and effort accumulated over many centuries. … There is a collective memory of God in the human spirit, and it is this memory which is the main source of our faith.

— Abraham Joshua Heschel Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays (1997)

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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.