Abraham Isaac Kook Quotes

• There are free men with the spirit of a slave, and slaves whose spirit is full of freedom. He who is true to his inner self is a free man, while he whose entire life is merely a stage for what is good and beautiful in the eyes of others, is a slave.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Beautiful, Eye, Men

  114 Copy quote

• The pure righteous do not complain of the dark, but increase the light; they do not complain of evil, but increase justice; they do not complain of heresy, but increase faith; they do not complain of ignorance, but increase wisdom.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Faith, Wisdom, Religious

  "Arpilei Tohar" by Abraham Isaac Kook, (p. 2), 1914.

  141 Copy quote

• I don't speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don't have the power to remain silent.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Speak, Silent

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• The Second Temple was destroyed because of causeless hatred. Perhaps the Third will be rebuilt because of causeless love.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Love, Hatred, Temples

  83 Copy quote

• When the spirit shines, even foggy skies make pleasant light.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Light, Sky, Shining

  73 Copy quote

• The higher the truth, the simpler it is.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Higher

  66 Copy quote

• An epiphany enables you to sense creation not as something completed, but as constantly becoming, evolving, ascending. This transports you from a place where there is nothing new to a place where there is nothing old, where everything renews itself, where heaven and earth rejoice as at the moment of creation.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Heaven, Earth, Ascending

  66 Copy quote

• When one looks truly at the good side of everyone, others come to love him very naturally, and he does not need even a speck of flattery.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Doe, Needs, Looks

  63 Copy quote

• All the troubles of the world, especially the spiritual, such as grief, impatience, disillusionment, despair, the truly basic troubles of man-they came about only because of the failure to view clearly the majesty of God.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Spiritual, Grief, Men

  54 Copy quote

• Contemplate the wonders of creation, the Divine dimension of their being, not as a dim configuration that is presented to you from a distance, but as the reality in which you live.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Distance, Reality, Dimensions

  Abraham Isaac Kook, Ben Zion Bokser (1978). “Abraham Isaac Kook: The Lights of Penitence, The Moral Principles, Lights of Holiness, Essays, Letters, and Poems”, p.207, Paulist Press

  37 Copy quote

• One whose soul does not wander in the expanses, one who does not seek the light of truth and goodness with all his heart, does not suffer spiritual ruins - but he will also not have his own self-based constructions. Instead, he takes shelter in the shadow of the natural constructions, like rabbits under boulders. But one who has a human soul cannot take shelter in anything other than constructions that he builds with his own spiritual toil.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Spiritual, Heart, Light

  68 Copy quote

• The desire to be good to all with no restrictions - not in the quantity of those to whom we are good nor in the quality of the good we perform - that is the inner nucleus of the essence of the soul of Israel.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Israel, Essence, Soul

  54 Copy quote

• The delight of the Torah is ignited by an inner awareness. A man begins to sense the great tapestry of each letter and point. Every concept and content, every notion and idea, of every spiritual movement, of every vibration, intellectual and emotional, from the immediate and general to the distant and detailed, from matters lofty, spiritual, and ethical according to their outward profile, to matters practical, obligatory, seemingly frightening, and forceful, and at the same time complex and full of content and great mental exertion - all together become known by a supernal holy awareness.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Spiritual, Men, Emotional

  "XXVIII : The Inner Light of Torah in the Land of Israel". Translation by Rabbi Bezalel Naor, p. 208,

  53 Copy quote

• We forgot we have Holy Body not less than our Holy Spirit.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Body, Spirit, Holy Spirit

  37 Copy quote

• A tiny remnant of a big thing is better than a whole little thing.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Littles, Tiny, Little Things

  31 Copy quote

• Our generation is wonderful generation, full of wonder. It's very hard to find an example of it in all our history. Composed of contradictions — light and darkness mixed.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Light, Our Generation, Darkness

  31 Copy quote

• We are great and our faults are great and therefore our problems great and great are our consolations.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Faults, Problem, Consolation

  42 Copy quote

• The thought of a happiness that comes from outside the person, brings him sadness. But the recognition in the value of one's will and the freedom granted by its uplifting, brings great joy.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Uplifting, Sadness, Joy

  33 Copy quote

• The good will is all — and all the talents are ways to fulfill it.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Way, Talent, Good Will

  17 Copy quote

• The progress of dynamic ideals will not be eternally blocked. Through general, moral and intellectual advancement... shall the latent aspiration of justice for the animal kingdom come out into the open, when the time is ripe.

  Abraham Isaac Kook

  Animal, Justice, Intellectual

  24 Copy quote

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