Albert Schweitzer Quotes

To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic.

Only those who respect the personality of others can be of real use to them.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

Today we know that all living beings who strive to maintain life and who long to be spared pain – all living beings on earth are our neighbors.

What is nationalism? It is an ignoble patriotism.

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.

Ideals are thoughts. So long as they exist merely as thoughts, the power in them remains ineffective.

Judging by what I have learned about men and women, I am convinced that there is far more in them of idealist will power than ever comes to the surface of the world. Just as the water of the streams we see is small in amount compared to that which flows underground, so the idealism […]

An idea is, in the end, always stronger than circumstances.

Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being to a purpose.