By being what only I can be, I give humanity what only I can give. It is my uniqueness that allows me to contribute something unique to the universal heritage of humankind. I sum up the Jewish imperative, very simply-and it has been like this since the days of Abraham: to be true to your faith is a blessing to others regardless of their faith. That's the big paradox when you really reach the very depth of particularity.
(0
Reviews)
The quote emphasizes the importance of embracing one's uniqueness, suggesting that each person's individuality allows them to offer something special to humanity. This distinctiveness is crucial in contributing to the shared legacy of humankind. By being true to oneself, each individual can enrich the world around them with their own perspective and skills, fulfilling a vital role in the collective experience of humanity.
Moreover, the author connects this idea to a broader moral and spiritual principle, particularly within the context of Judaism. Being genuine to one’s beliefs is portrayed as a gift to others, transcending religious differences. This observation reflects a deeper truth: the more deeply one engages with their particular identity, the more they can contribute to a diverse and interconnected world, highlighting a profound paradox of individuality and universality.
Rate the Quote
Add Comment & Review
User Reviews
Based on 0 reviews
No reviews added yet.
Comments will not be approved to be posted if they are SPAM, abusive, off-topic, use profanity, contain a personal attack, or promote hate of any kind.
More »
Other quotes in Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living
More »
Other quotes in book quote
More »
Popular quotes
Taffy. He thinks about taffy. He thinks it would take his teeth out now, but he would eat it anyhow, if it meant eating it with her.
Mitch Albom
All our human endeavours are like that, she reflected, and it is only because we are too ignorant to realize it, or are too forgetful to remember it, that we have the confidence to build something that is meant to last.
Alexander McCall Smith
The value of money is subjective, depending on age. At the age of one, one multiplies the actual sum by 145,000, making one pound seem like 145,000 pounds to a one-year-old. At seven – Bertie's age – the multiplier is 24, so that five pounds seems like 120 pounds. At the age of twenty four, five pounds is five pounds; at forty five it is divided by 5, so that it seems like one pound and one pound seems like twenty pence. {All figures courtesy of Scottish Government Advice Leaflet: Handling your Money.}
Alexander McCall Smith
In fact, none of us knows how he ever managed to get his LLB in the first place. Maybe they're putting law degrees in cornflakes boxes these days.
Alexander McCall Smith
The Red Lion was a four-ale bar with a handful of lowbrowed sons of toil who looked as though they might be related to one another in ways frowned on by the Old Testament.
Sebastian Faulks
Look, if you say that science will eventually prove there is no God, on that I must differ. No matter how small they take it back, to a tadpole, to an atom, there is always something they can't explain, something that created it all at the end of the search.
And no matter how far they try to go the other way – to extend life, play around with the genes, clone this, clone that, live to one hundred and fifty – at some point, life is over. And then what happens? When the life comes to an end?
I shrugged.
You see?
He leaned back. He smiled.
When you come to the end, that's where God begins.
Mitch Albom
Small towns are like metronomes; with the slightest flick, the beat changes.
Mitch Albom
You say you should have died instead of me. But during my time on earth, people died instead of me, too. It happens every day. When lightning strikes a minute after you are gone, or an airplane crashes that you might have been on. When your colleague falls ill and you do not. We think such things are random. But there is a balance to it all. One withers, another grows. Birth and death are part of a whole.
Mitch Albom
we get so many lives between birth and death. A life to be a child. A life to come of age. A life to wander, to settle, to fall in love, to parent, to test our promise, to realize our mortality-and, in some lucky cases, to do something after that realization.
Mitch Albom
But an ink brush, she thinks, is a skeleton key for a prisoner's mind.
David Mitchell