Harold S. Kushner quotes

Caring about others, running the risk of feeling, and leaving an impact on people brings happiness. (Harold S. Kushner)
When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside. It is as though something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
I am convinced that it is not the fear of death, of our lives ending, that haunts our sleep so much as the fear that as far as the world is concerned, we might as well never have lived. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
There is no right way to do a wrong thing. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
We have confused God with Santa Claus. And we believe that prayer means making a list of everything you don't have but want and trying to persuade God you deserve it. Now I'm sorry, that's not God, that's Santa Claus. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
One of the most sublime experiences we can ever have is to wake up feeling healthy after we have been sick. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
There are some things we should feel guilty about, but the guilt feelings should attach to the deed, not to the doer. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
There is a Jewish notion that holiness is found with other people. To understand what life really is, one has to share it. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
The purpose in life is not to win. The purpose in life is to grow and to share. "When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people's lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them. (Harold S. Kushner)
God does not cause our misfortunes. Some are caused by bad luck, some are caused by bad people, and some are simply an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal. living in a world of inflexible natural laws. The painful things that happen to us are not punishments for our misbehavior, nor are they in any way part of some grand design on God's part. Because the tragedy is not God's will, we need not feel hurt or betrayed by God when tragedy strikes. We can turn to Him for help in overcoming it, precisely because we can tell ourselves that God is as outraged by it as we are. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
People who pray for miracles usually don't get miracles. But people who pray for courage, for strength to bear the unbearable, for the grace to remember what they have left instead of what they have lost, very often find their prayers answered. Their prayers help them tap hidden reserves of faith and courage that were not available to them before. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
Is there an answer to the question of why bad things happen to good people?...The response would be...to forgive the world for not being perfect, to forgive God for not making a better world, to reach out to the people around us, and to go on living despite it all...no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it has happened. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
The happiest people I know are people who don't even think about being happy. They just think about being good neighbors, good people. And then happiness sort of sneaks in the back window while they are busy doing good. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
You don't become happy by pursuing happiness. You become happy by living a life that means something. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
One of the basic needs of every human being is the need to be loved, to have our wishes and feelings taken seriously, to be validated as people who matter. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
Integrity means being whole, unbroken, undivided. It describes a person who has united the different parts of his or her personality, so there is no longer a split in the soul ... For the person of integrity, life may not be easy but it is simple: Figure out what is right and do it. All other considerations come in second. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
But at the end, if we are brave enough to love, if we are strong enough to forgive, if we are generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness, and if we are wise enough to know that there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment that no other living creature will ever know, we can reenter paradise. (Harold S. Kushner)
We can endure much more than we think we can; all human experience testifies to that. All we need to do is learn not to be afraid of pain. Grit your teeth and let it hurt. Don't deny it, don't be overwhelmed by it. It will not last forever. One day, the pain will be gone and you will still be there. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
We are here to change the world with small acts of thoughtfulness done daily rather than with one great breakthrough. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you. View quote
Harold S. Kushner
God is like a mirror. The mirror never changes, but everybody who looks at it sees something different. View quote
Harold S. Kushner