A person goes astray if his theory far outstrips his actions.

A.J. Heschel, Interview at Notre Dame, in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, FSG, p. 388

We believe that we are living in the ancient Covenant of Sinai. This is not a matter of feeling or even a matter of  faith. It's a reality.

A.J. Heschel, Interview at Notre Dame, in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, FSG, p. 386

As important as it is to discuss theological subtleties, it is much more important to know how to save men from being liquidated.

A.J. Heschel, Interview at Notre Dame, in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, FSG, p. 390

Religious existence is a pilgrimage rather than an arrival. Its teaching - a challenge rather than an intellectual establishment, an encyclopedia of ready-made answers.

A. J. Heschel, What We Might Do Together, in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, FSG, p. 296

Q:  What advice would you give those religious people who tend to become  discouraged when they see so much evil in the world ?

A: For man to be frustrated is a cardinal sin.

A.J. Heschel, Interview at Notre Dame, in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, FSG, p. 391, The above sentence is the beginning of Heschel's response to the question.

One of the prerequisites for faith is gratitude. It is the essential attitude that makes a person human.

A.J. Heschel, Interview at Notre Dame, in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, FSG, p. 384

We must learn to understand God, man, nature and society in terms of the prophets and the psalmist.

A.J. Heschel, Israel and Diaspora, in The Insecurity Of Freedom, FSG, p. 217

Sensitivity to the mystery of living is the essence of human dignity. 

A.J. Heschel, Depth Theology, in The Insecurity of Freedom, p 123

Our task, then, is to go beneath the tranquillity of creed and tradition in order to overhear the echoes of wrestling and to recapture the living insights.

A.J. Heschel, God in Search of Man, FSG, p 31

It is not a world devoid of meaning that evokes the prophet's consternation, but a world deaf to meaning.

A.J. Heschel, The Prophets, The Jewish Publication Society of America, p xvii

The prophet was an individual who said No to his society, condemning its habits and assumptions, its complacency, waywardness, and syncretism.

A.J. Heschel, The Prophets, The Jewish Publication Society of America, p xix

"...those to whom reality is dearer than information, to whom life is stronger than concepts and the world more than words, are never deluded into believing that what they know and perceive is the core of reality."

A. J. Heschel. Man is Not Alone, FS&G, p 36

"אף על פי שהמקרא טוען שדבריו מקורם בהשראה אלוהית, יש בו גם מילים אנושיות המבטאות את חיפושיו של האדם ואת דאגותיו. המקרא מכיל את דברי האלוהים לאדם, אך גם את דבריו של האדם לאלוהים, ועל האלוהים; לא רק גילוי האלוהים יש בו, אלא גם תובנות אנושיות. החוויה הנבואית רחוקה עד מאוד מטווח השגתו של האדם המודרני. אולם גם הנביאים היו בני אדם. החוויות הנבואיות היו רגעים בודדים בחייהם: מעבר להן השתרעו מרחבי המפגש עם הטוב והרע, עם האור והחושך, עם החיים והמוות, עם האהבה והשנאה - נושאים  שממשותם לא פחתה ב3000 השנים שחלפו מתקופת הנביאים ועד ימינו. תפיסותיהם משקפות מחשבה אנושית, לא נבואית בלבד. ההתעוררות הפנימית והחופשית של רוח האדם המקראי מצאה את ביטויה בראש ובראשונה ביצירות המכונות ספרות החכמה: איוב, משלי וקהלת , כשם שהיא מצאה את ביטויה בספר תהילים."

א.י. השל, אלוהים מבקש את האדם, הוצ'  מאגנס, תרגום עזן מאיר-לוי, עמ'  22, הוספתי לתרגום בסיפא, הוספה משמעותית אם מותר לי לומר - כדי להתאימה למקור -  ג'ף

Man's quest for a meaning of existence is essentially a quest for the lasting, a quest for abidingness.

A.J.Heschel, Man is Not Alone, Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc p. 199

It is a fact of profound significance that we sense more than we can say.

A J Heschel quoted by Gordon Tucker in his talk at the Heschel conference at Jerusalem last December

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2wmAp2wwb8          at     12:10

The self is not the hub, but the spoke of the revolving wheel.

A.J Heschel, Man's Quest For God, Aurora Press, p 7

האני איננו מרכז הגלגל המסתובב אלא החישור בו

א.י. השל, מסע האדם אחר אלוהים (אנג') ,  עמ' 7 טרם פורסם בעברית , התרגום שלי - ג'ף

How rarely do we face a person as a person.

Ibid, (  A.J.Heschel, Man is Not Alone, Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc p. 214)

Every one of us entertains more relations with things than with people, and even in dealings with people we behave toward them as if they were things, tools, means to be used for our own selfish ends.

A.J.Heschel, Man is Not Alone, Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc p. 214

Pagans revere holy things. prophets adore holy moments.

A. J. Heschel. the Ottawa talk on the meaning of the shabbat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpIhkpsbTk4 20:35

Sensitive men have always been haunted by the awareness that we apprehend more than we can comprehend, that things point beyond themselves to wider horizons, and behind their façade to the depth of their divine ground.

Fritz Rothschild, from  the introduction to "Between God and Man" a selection of writings by Heschel, selected and edited by Rothschild, Harper & Brothers, p. 13.

 To be human one must  know what being human means, how to acquire, how to preserve it.

Abraham Joshua Heschel speaking at UCLA 5/29/1968, 35:31 @ -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVIbDLAvBNs 

Human life is the meeting point  of mind and mystery, of reason and transcendence.

Fritz Rothschild, from  the introduction to "Between God and Man" a selection of writings by Heschel, selected and edited by Rothschild, Harper & Brothers, p. 12

העובדה הבלתי מובנת ביותר

 The most incomprehensible fact is the fact that we comprehend at all. 

A.J.Heschel, Man is Not Alone, Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc p. 14.

העובדה הבלתי מובנת ביותר היא עצם העובדה שאנו מבינים. 

א. י. השל, אלוהים מבקש את האדם, הוצאת מאגנס, תרגום עזן מאיר לוי, עמ' 37 

The greatest obstacle to a genuine understanding of the problem of God is the common notion that he is an object that can be located and analyzed in the way in which other objects are cognized by a human subject.

Fritz Rothschild, from  the introduction to "Between God and Man" a selection of writings by Heschel, selected and edited by Rothschild, Harper & Brothers, p. 13

It may well be that we will enter an age in which the earth will be populated by a race of beings which may be biologically called homo-sapiens but will be devoid of all qualities by which man is spiritually distinguished from the rest of organic creatures.

Abraham Joshua Heschel speaking at UCLA 5/29/1968, 34:55 @ -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVIbDLAvBNs