To defend a country, you need an army, but to defend a civilization, you need education... Jonathan Sacks More Quotes by Jonathan Sacks More Quotes From Jonathan Sacks We need to rediscover the idea of the common good and work together to build a home. Jonathan Sacks working-togetherhomeideas We believe that what we possess we don't ultimately own. God is merely entrusting it to us. And one of the conditions of that trust is that we share what we have with those who have less. So, if you don't give to people in need, you can hardly call yourself a Jew. Even the most unbelieving Jew knows that. Jonathan Sacks givingbelievepeople I see in the rising crescendo of ethnic tensions, civilization clashes and the use of religious justification for acts of terror, a clear and present danger to humanity. Jonathan Sacks religioushumanitycivilization We are biological creatures. We are born, we live, we die. There is no transcendent purpose to existence. At best we are creatures of reason, and by using reason we can cure ourselves of emotional excess. Purged of both hope and fear, we find courage in the face of helplessness, insignificance and uncertainty. Jonathan Sacks excessemotionalpurpose Close to a billion people - one-eighth of the world's population - still live in hunger. Each year 2 million children die through malnutrition. This is happening at a time when doctors in Britain are warning of the spread of obesity. We are eating too much while others starve. Jonathan Sacks doctorschildrenyears True freedom requires the rule of law and justice, and a judicial system in which the rights of some are not secured by the denial of rights to others. Jonathan Sacks rightslawjustice Happiness is not made by what we own. It is what we share. Jonathan Sacks sharemade The meaning of the universe lies outside the universe. Jonathan Sacks universelying Man was not made for the service of economies; economies were made to serve mankind; and men and women were made - so we believe - to serve one another, not just ourselves. Jonathan Sacks challengesmenbelieve Europe today is the most secular region in the world. Europe is the only region in the world experiencing population decline. Wherever you turn today the more religious the community, the larger on average are their families. Jonathan Sacks religiouseuropeaverage Those who believe that liberal democracy and the free market can be defended by the force of law and regulation alone, without an internalised sense of duty and morality, are tragically mistaken. Jonathan Sacks democracylawbelieve The faith religious believers have in God is small compared to the faith people put in politicians, knowing how many times they have been disappointed in the past but still insisting that this time it will be different. Jonathan Sacks religiousfaithpast The Jewish festival of freedom is the oldest continuously observed religious ritual in the world. Across the centuries, Passover has never lost its power to inspire the imagination of successive generations of Jews with its annually re-enacted drama of slavery and liberation. Jonathan Sacks imaginationreligiousdrama Since Hiroshima and the Holocaust, science no longer holds its pristine place as the highest moral authority. Instead, that role is taken by human rights. It follows that any assault on Jewish life - on Jews or Judaism or the Jewish state - must be cast in the language of human rights. Jonathan Sacks holocausttakenrights Just as the natural environment depends on biodiversity, so the human environment depends on cultural diversity, because no one civilization encompasses all the spiritual, ethical and artistic expressions of mankind. Jonathan Sacks expressionspiritualcivilization God's forgiveness allows us to be honest with ourselves. We recognize our imperfections, admit our failures, and plead to God for clemency. Jonathan Sacks imperfectionbeing-honesthonest Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holy of holies of Jewish time. It is that rarest of phenomena, a Jewish festival without food. Instead it is a day of fasting and prayer, introspection and self-judgment when, collectively and repeatedly, we confess our sins and pray to be written into God's Book of Life. Jonathan Sacks selfprayerbook Religious ritual is a way of structuring time so that we, not employers, the market or the media, are in control. Life needs its pauses, its chapter breaks, if the soul is to have space to breathe. Jonathan Sacks mediaspacereligious We have lots of heroes today - sportsmen, supermodels, media personalities. They come, they have their 15 minutes of fame, and they go. But the influence of good teachers stays with us. They are the people who really shape our lives. Jonathan Sacks mediaheroteacher Find people not to envy but to admire. Do not the profitable but the admirable deed. Live by ideals. Jonathan Sacks envydeedspeople
