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Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come.

— Albert Schweitzer Memoirs of Childhood and Youth (1924)

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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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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.