Quotations

"God does not cause our misfortunes. Some are caused by bad luck, some are caused by bad people, and some are simply an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal.
The painful things that happen to us are not punishments for our misbehavior, nor are they in any way part of some grand design on God's part. Because the tragedy is not God's will, we need not feel hurt or betrayed by God when tragedy strikes. We can turn to Him for help in overcoming it, precisely because we can tell ourselves that God is as outraged by it as we are."

— Harold Kushner, American rabbi, born 1935

"Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter."

— Harold Kushner, American rabbi, born 1935

"The happiest people I know are people who don't even think about being happy. They just think about being good neighbors, good people. And then happiness sort of sneaks in the back window while they are busy doing good."

— Harold Kushner, American rabbi, born 1935

"I said in an interview at the time that God's job is not to make sick people healthy. That's the doctor's job. God's job is to make sick people brave."

— Harold Kushner, American rabbi, born 1935

"In all my years of counseling those near death, I've yet to hear anyone say they wish they had spent more time at the office."

— Harold Kushner, American rabbi, born 1935

"People who pray for miracles usually don't get miracles. But people who pray for courage, for strength to bear the unbearable, for the grace to remember what they have left instead of what they have lost, very often find their prayers answered. Their prayers help them tap hidden reserves of faith and courage that were not available to them before."

— Harold Kushner, American rabbi, born 1935

"Allow the river of light the deepest currents of consciousness to rise to the surface and, without anxiety, animate our lives. We are thus blessed to return to the scriptural text of our ordinary lives and live out its dream. Not to leave life but to learn how to be fully present in it."

— Lawrence Kushner, American Reform rabbi, born 1943

"Everyone carries with them at least one piece to someone else's puzzle."

— Lawrence Kushner, American Reform rabbi, born 1943

"That's what Hanukkah is about: trying to survive the darkness on the far-fetched hope there's still some life and light left in the universe. It's more than just a religious story. The days have been growing shorter, imperceptibly but inescapably darker. Heading into the night of the winter solstice, every spiritual tradition has some kind of festival of light."

— Lawrence Kushner, American Reform rabbi, born 1943

"Our tolerance for forms of religious expression we disagree with is a precise barometer of our own spiritual security."

— Lawrence Kushner, American Reform rabbi, born 1943

"The holiest Name in the world, the Name of the Creator, is the sound of your own breathing."

— Lawrence Kushner, American Reform rabbi, born 1943

"I didn't lose the gold, I won the silver."

— Michelle Kwan, American figure skater, born 1980

"The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear."

— Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, born 1945

"If you're feeling helpless, help someone."

— Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, born 1945