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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.

Albert Schweitzer

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Goodness, Truth and Beauty

Topic: Wisdom & Understanding

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.

Albert Schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer was born on January 14, 1875, in Kaysersberg, Alsace, into a family deeply rooted in the traditions of religion, music, and education. Both his father and maternal grandfather were Lutheran ministers, and his early exposure to church life, theological study, and classical music shaped his intellectual and spiritual development. He pursued theology and philosophy at the University of Strasbourg, earning a doctorate in philosophy in 1899 with a focus on Immanuel Kant’s religious thought. In 1900, he received his licentiate in theology. His academic and pastoral work during this period included preaching at St. Nicholas Church and serving in leadership roles at the Theological College of St. Thomas. In 1906, he published The Quest of the Historical Jesus, a critical work that contributed to modern theological scholarship.

Alongside his theological and philosophical work, Albert Schweitzer was a gifted musician. He began studying piano and organ in childhood and was performing publicly by the age of nine. He went on to become an internationally known concert organist, using income from performances to fund both his education and later medical missions. As a musicologist, he published a biography of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1905 and contributed to the study of organ building and playing. In 1905, he made a pivotal decision to study medicine with the goal of becoming a medical missionary. He earned his medical degree in 1913 and soon after established a hospital in Lambaréné, French Equatorial Africa, where he and his wife later endured internment during World War I.

After returning to Lambaréné in 1924, Albert Schweitzer dedicated the remainder of his life to expanding and maintaining the hospital, which grew into a complex capable of treating hundreds of patients. He combined the roles of physician, surgeon, pastor, administrator, writer, and host, drawing on his wide range of training and experience. His written works during this time included On the Edge of the Primeval Forest and Civilization and Ethics. Schweitzer received several international honors, including the Goethe Prize and the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize. The prize money supported the establishment of a leprosarium at Lambaréné. Albert Schweitzer died there on September 4, 1965, leaving behind a legacy grounded in service, scholarship, and what he called “Reverence for Life.”

(1875-1965) Christianity
Reverence for Life

Schweitzer, Albert. Reverence for Life. Harper & Row, 1969. [Albert Schweitzer (Reverence for Life: The Words of Albert Schweitzer)].

Albert Schweitzer


Theme: Wisdom

Commentary About Albert Schweitzer’s Quote [Commentary]

Albert Schweitzer’s reflection on the soul offers deep insight into the nature of wisdom as a guide in human life. He portrays the soul as a sense of connection to “something higher than ourselves,” stirring aspirations toward “goodness, truth, and beauty.” This stirring, Schweitzer suggests, embodies wisdom—a recognition of values that transcend personal desires and align us with universal principles. By framing the soul as an internal compass, Schweitzer reveals its role in guiding us toward greater meaning and purpose.

Schweitzer’s description of the soul as a “burning desire” to remain in the “world of light” highlights the active quality of wisdom. Wisdom, like the soul, is not a static possession but a continuous striving for illumination and growth. The metaphor of living as “children of light” emphasizes the openness and humility needed to embrace wisdom’s lessons. For Schweitzer, this perpetual seeking reflects a maturity that recognizes wisdom as a journey—a process of aligning with truth and light through conscious engagement.

Schweitzer’s insights show wisdom as transformative, rooted in the soul’s longing for connection with higher ideals. By inviting us to “breathe in this world of light,” Schweitzer reminds us that wisdom is both a personal and collective pursuit. The soul’s aspirations reflect a universal longing to live in harmony with truth, goodness, and beauty. Wisdom, in this sense, is not only a goal but a way of being—an ongoing effort to live with clarity, purpose, and commitment to the light.

Additional Albert Schweitzer Quotes

“He who does not reflect his life back to God in gratitude does not know himself.”

—Albert Schweitzer [Reverence for Life: The Words of Albert Schweitzer].

“The restoration of our worldview can come only as a result of inexorably truth-loving and recklessly courageous thought. Such thinking alone is mature enough to learn by experience how the rational, when it thinks itself out to a conclusion, passes necessarily over into the non-rational. World- and life-affirmation and ethics are non-rational. They are not justified by any corresponding knowledge of the nature of the world, but are the disposition in which, through the inner compulsion of our will-to-live, we determine our relation to the world.

What the activity of this disposition of ours means in the evolution of the world, we do not know. Nor can we regulate this activity from outside; we must leave entirely to each individual its shaping and its extension. From every point of view, then, world- and life-affirmation and ethics are non-rational, and we must have the courage to admit it.”

—Albert Schweitzer [Kulturphilosophie (1923), Translated by C. T. Campion as Philosophy of Civilisation (1949), Vol. 2 : Civilization and Ethics].

Resources

  • Albert Schweitzer - Biographical on Nobelprize website
  • Albert Schweitzer - Quote citations on Wikiquotes website

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