Solomon Ibn Gabirol: “Man is wise only while in search of wisdom; when he imagines he has attained it, he is a fool.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel: “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”

Elie Wiesel: “There is divine beauty in learning, just as there is human beauty in tolerance. To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you.”

Albert Einstein: “The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice and the desire for personal independence, these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my stars that I belong to it.”

Albert Einstein: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Ben Zoma: “Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.”

Talmud, Brachot 17a: “The highest form of wisdom is kindness.”

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: “In spirituality, the searching is the finding and the pursuit is the achievement.”

Barbra Streisand: “Art does not exist only to entertain, but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to disturb, in a constant search for truth.”

Jewish proverb: “Do not be wise in words – be wise in deeds.”

RAC L’taken seminar, Shabbat morning service: “A rabbi and a soap-maker once went for a walk together. The soap-maker said to the rabbi: ‘What good is Judaism? After thousands of years of teaching about goodness, truth, justice, and peace, after all the study of Torah, and all the fine ideals of the Prophets, look at all the trouble and misery in the world! If Judaism is so wonderful and true, why should all this be so?’

“The rabbi said nothing. They continued walking until he noticed a child playing in the gutter. The child was filthy with soot and grime. ‘Look at that child,” said the rabbi. “You say that soap makes people clean, but see the dirt on that youngster. What good is soap? With all the soap in the world, that child is still filthy. I wonder if soap is of any use at all.’

“The soap-maker protested and said, ‘But, Rabbi, soap can’t do any good unless it is used!’

“‘Exactly!’ cried the rabbi. ‘So it is with Judaism. It isn’t effective unless it is applied in daily life and used!'”