Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.
Interpretation
The quote encourages awareness of the suffering others endure, which we often ignore.
Albert Schweitzer's quote serves as a reminder to cultivate empathy for those who are suffering. It urges us to confront the discomfort of acknowledging the hardships faced by others, rather than turning a blind eye, thereby fostering compassion and a deeper understanding of the human experience.
In practice
In a speech about social justice, one could reference this quote to emphasize the importance of recognizing poverty.
I do not want to frighten you by telling you about the temptations life will bring. Anyone who is healthy in spirit will overcome them. But there is something I want you to realize. It does not matter so much what you do. What matters is whether your soul is harmed by what you do. If your soul is harmed, something irreparable happens, the extent of which you won't realize until it will be too late.
Within every patient there resides a doctor, and we as physicians are at our best when we we put our patients in touch with the doctor inside themselves.
By ethical conduct toward all creatures, we enter into a spiritual relationship with the universe.
No one can give a definition of the soul. But we know what it feels like. The soul is the sense of something higher than ourselves, something that stirs in us thoughts, hopes, and aspirations which go out to the world of goodness, truth and beauty. The soul is a burning desire to breathe in this world of light and never to lose it--to remain children of light.
The mistake made by all previous systems of ethics has been the failure to recognize that life as such is the mysterious value with which they have to deal. All spiritual life meets us within natural life. Reverence for life, therefore, is applied to natural life and spiritual life alike. In the parable of Jesus, the shepherd saves not merely the soul of the lost sheep but the whole animal. The stronger the reverence for natural life, the stronger grows also that for spiritual life.
The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.
Suffering isn't ennobling, recovery is.
Encouragement to all women is - let us try to offer help before we have to offer therapy. That is to say, let's see if we can't prevent being ill by trying to offer a love of prevention before illness.
Intellectual freedom depends upon material things.
Let the wise guard their thoughts, which are difficult to perceive, extremely subtle, and wander at will. Thought which is well guarded is the bearer of happiness.
You wake up one day and suddenly realize that your youth is behind you, even though you're still young at heart.
Grown-up people do not know that a child can give exceedingly good advice even in the most difficult case.
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