“The riches of the soul are stored up in its memory. this is the test of character, not whether a man follows the daily fashion, but whether the past is alive in his present.”
"The Holy Dimension", p. 333
Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays (1997)
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Abraham Joshua Heschel 130
Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi 1907–1972Related quotes

“Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.”
Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
Variant: This is a test to see if your mission in this life is complete, if you are alive, it isn't.
Source: The Bridge Across Forever: A True Love Story

“Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. If you’re alive, it isn’t.”
Source: They'd Rather Be Right (1954), p. 48.

Variant:
The existence of law is one thing; its merit or demerit is another. Whether it be or be not is one enquiry; whether it be or be not conformable to an assumed standard, is a different enquiry. A law, which actually exists, is a law, though we happen to dislike it, or though it vary from the text, by which we regulate our approbation and disapprobation.
John Austin, Austin Lectures on Jurisprudence; or The Philosophy of Positive Law, 1873, Lecture V
Source: The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832), p. 278

“Man must choose whether to be rich in things or in the freedom to use them.”