Howard Thurman Quotes

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.

It is a strange thing how sometimes merely to talk honestly of God, even if it is only to articulate our feelings of separation and confusion, can bring peace to our spirits.

When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff.

Don’t worry about what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

The measure of a man’s greatness is not the number of followers he has, but the number of lives he has touched.

If what you have in your religion is worth having, it should be able to share its beauty and goodness and truth with the world beyond its boundaries. If what you have is something which cannot survive contact with other areas of life, then it is much to be doubted whether it is worth having.

The shadows do not destroy the light; they define it.

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Howard Thurman Quotes part 2

Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers.

The dream is the reality.

Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.

It takes a strong back to hold up a sagging spirit.

The ship of my life may or may not be sailing on calm and amiable seas. The challenging days of my existence may or may not be bright and promising. Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today, I am blessed.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

The real enemy is the power of negative action, and not the people who exercise that power.

God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.

During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism.

Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers.

Follow your heart, but be quiet for a while first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart.

Faith is a growing process rather than a possession.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Do not be silent; there is no limit to the power that may be released through you.

There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.

The world goes on at its own pace regardless of our approval or disapproval. It’s an illusion to imagine that what we approve of prospers while everything else suffers.

When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff.

In this moment I listen to what my heart and soul is saying, and I am guided into the most incredible adventures that I could never have imagined on my own.

Whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to God.

There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.

Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.

Life is movement-we breathe, we eat, we walk, we move!

Each day you must choose the path that leads to action. Courage, my friend, is the solution to stagnation. It takes courage to do right, it takes courage to do wrong, and it takes courage to admit to both. Seek wisdom – embrace anything else. But first, you must seek courage.

The world is meaner and colder than we had ever dreamed of it being. But man has innate capacities for love and joy and kindness, and if he doesn’t, the world is not going to change. The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences, and to be better than you were before.

Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world.

Never forget that the world we live in has been built from the dreams of those who dared to dream. And as long as we continue to dream, the world will never cease to exist.

Do not ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Don’t seek, don’t search, don’t ask, don’t knock, don’t demand – relax. If you relax it comes, if you relax it is there. If you relax, you start vibrating with it.

When you dig another out of their troubles, you find a place to bury your own.

I always have difficulty when people ask me about my religious faith. It’s not a question of disbelief or lack of faith, it’s just that I don’t see my life in spiritual terms.

The truth is that no one is gentle with themselves. All I can strive for is to be gentle with others.

No man, woman, or child can be forced to believe something against his will. God alone can command the conscience.

Religion is the foundation on which society is built; it is the glue that holds us together in times of crisis and gives us hope when all seems lost.

The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.

The measure of a man’s greatness is not the number of followers he has, but the number of lives he has touched.

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.

Do not ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

The search for truth is never-ending. The more we seek, the more we find, and the more we discover how little we actually know.

Happiness is not a destination, it’s a journey. Enjoy every moment along the way.