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Let me give you a definition of ethics: It is good to maintain and further life — it is bad to damage and destroy life. And this ethic, profound and universal, has the significance of a religion. It is religion.

— Albert Schweitzer Albert Schweitzer : The Man and His Mind (1947)

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Life

More quotes by Albert Schweitzer

Any religion or philosophy which is not based on a respect for life is not a true religion or philosophy.

Letter to a Japanese Animal Welfare Society (1961)

The highest knowledge is to know that we are surrounded by mystery.

It belongs to the nature of mysticism that it is timeless and appeals to no other authority than that of the truth which it carries within it.

Indian Thought And Its Development (1936)

Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they even roll a few more upon it.

True philosophy must start from the most immediate and comprehensive fact of consciousness: "I am life that wants to live, in the midst of life that wants to live."

Kulturphilosophie (1923)

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To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929)

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Reason is Life's sole arbiter, the magic Laby'rinth's single clue:
Worlds lie above, beyond its ken; what crosses it can ne'er be true.

Richard Francis Burton The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

Attribution

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