Howard Washington Thurman was an African-American author, philosopher, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader. As a prominent religious figure, he played a leading role in many social justice movements and organizations of the twentieth century. Profoundly inspirational Howard Thurman quotes will encourage growth in life, make you wiser and broaden your perspective.
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Famous Howard Thurman Quotes
Commitment means that it is possible for a man to yield the nerve center of his consent to a purpose or cause, a movement or an ideal, which may be more important to him than whether he lives or dies. Thurman
Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace. Howard Thurman
In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair. Howard Thurman
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. Howard Thurman
Twilight a time of pause when nature changes her guard. All living things would fade and die from too much light or too much dark if twilight were not. Howard Thurman
There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls. Howard Thurman
He recognized with authentic realism that anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to his destiny. Howard Thurman
Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive. Howard Thurman
The years, the months, the days, and the hours have flown by my open window. Here and there an incident, a towering moment, a naked memory, an etched countenance, a whisper in the dark, a golden glow these and much more are the woven fabric of the time I have lived. Howard Thurman
During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism. Howard Thurman
At the core of life is a hard purposefulness, a determination to live. Howard Thurman
There are two questions that we have to ask ourselves. The 1st is Where am I going? and the 2nd is Who will go with me? If you ever get these questions in the wrong order , you are in trouble. howard thurman
There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls. Howard Thurman
Often, to be free means the ability to deal with the realities of one’s own situation so as not to be overcome by them. Howard Thurman
Twilight a time of pause when nature changes her guard. All living things would fade and die from too much light or too much dark, if twilight were not. Howard Thurman
The years, the months, the days, and the hours have flown by my open window. Here and there an incident, a towering moment, a naked memory, an etched countenance, a whisper in the dark, a golden glow these and much more are the woven fabric of the time I have lived. Howard Thurman
He who fears is literally delivered to destruction. Howard Thurman
There must be always remaining in every life, some place for the singing of angels, some place for that which in itself is breathless and beautiful. Howard Thurman
A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope. Howard Thurman
And this is the strangest of all paradoxes of the human adventure; we live inside all experience, but we are permitted to bear witness only to the outside. Such is the riddle of life and the story of the passing of our days. Howard Thurman
Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers. Howard Thurman
If a man knows precisely what he can do to you or what epithet he can hurl against you in order to make you lose your temper, your equilibrium, then he can always keep you under subjection. Howard Thurman
Life wears down the edges of the mind. Howard Thurman
He recognized with authentic realism that anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to his destiny. Howard Thurman
At the core of life is a hard purposefulness, a determination to live. Howard Thurman
If a man is convinced that he is safe only as long as he uses his power to give others a sense of insecurity, then the measure of their security is in his hands. If security or insecurity is at the mercy of a single individual or group, then control of behavior becomes routine. All imperialism functions in this way. Howard Thurman
There must be always remaining in every life, someplace for the singing of angels, someplace for that which in itself is breathless and beautiful. Howard Thurman
Keep alive the dream; for as long as a man has a dream in his heart, he cannot lose the significance of living. Howard Thurman
And this is the strangest of all paradoxes of the human adventure; we live inside all experience, but we are permitted to bear witness only to the outside. Such is the riddle of life and the story of the passing of our days. Howard Thurman
There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. Howard Thurman
The radical tension between good and evil, as man sees it and feels it, does not have the last word about the meaning of life and the nature of existence. There is a spirit in man and in the world working always against the thing that destroys and lays waste. Howard Thurman
Above and beyond all else it must be borne in mind that hatred tends to dry up the springs of creative thought in the life of the hater, so that his resourcefulness becomes completely focused on the negative aspects of his environment. The urgent needs of the personality for creative expression are starved to death. A man’s horizon may become so completely dominated by the intense character of his hatred that there remains no creative residue in his mind and spirit to give to great ideas, to great concepts. Howard Thurman
There is a quiet courage that comes from an inward spring of confidence in the meaning and significance of life. Such courage is an underground river, flowing far beneath the shifting events of one’s experience, keeping alive a thousand little springs of action. Howard Thurman
What I have written is but a fleeting intimation of the outside of what one man sees and may tell about the path he walks. No one shares the secret of a life; no one enters into the heart of the mystery. Howard Thurman
There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls. Howard Thurman
It’s a wondrous thing, that a decision to act releases energy in the personality. For days on end a person may drift along without much energy. Having no particular sense of direction and having no will to change. Then, something happens to alter the pattern. It may be something very simple and inconsequential in itself. But it stabs awake, it alarms, it disturbs. In a flash, one gets a vivid picture of oneself, and it passes. The result is decision. Sharp, defenitive decision. In the wake of the decision, yes, even as a part of the decision itself, energy is released. The act of decision sweeps all before it, and the life of the individual maybe changed forever. Howard Thurman
The hard thing when you get old is to keep your horizons open. The first part of your life everything is in front of you, all your potential and promise. But over the years, you make decisions; you carve yourself into a given shape. Then the challenge is to keep discovering the green growing edge. Howard Thurman
It cannot be denied that too often the weight of the Christian movement has been on the side of the strong and the powerful and against the weak and oppressed this, despite the gospel. Howard Thurman
Christmas is a mood, a quality, a symbol. It is never merely a fact. Howard Thurman
It has long been a matter of serious moment that for decades we have studied the various peoples of the world and those who live as our neighbors as objects of missionary endeavor and enterprise without being at all willing to treat them either as brothers or as human beings. Howard Thurman
Jesus rejected hatred because he saw that hatred meant death to the mind, death to the spirit, and death to communion with his Father. He affirmed life, and hatred was the great denial. Howard Thurman
The Christian Church has tended to overlook its Judaic origins, but the fact is that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew of Palestine when he went about his Father’s business, announcing the acceptable year of the Lord. Howard Thurman
Listen to the long stillness New life is stirring New dreams are on the wing New hopes are being readied Humankind is fashioning a new heart Humankind is forging a new mind God is at work. This is the season of Promise. Howard Thurman
When I was older and was half through college, I chanced to be spending a few days at home near the end of summer vacation. With a feeling of great temerity I asked her one day why it was that she would not let me read any of the Pauline letters. What she told me I shall never forget. During the days of slavery, she said, the master’s minister would occasionally hold services for the slaves. Old man McGhee was so mean that he would not let a Negro minister preach to his slaves. Always the white minister used as his text something from Paul. At least three or four times a year he used as a text Slaves, be obedient to them that are your masters, as unto Christ. Then he would go on to show how it was God’s will that we were slaves and how, if we were good and happy slaves, God would bless us. I promised my Maker that if I ever learned to read and if freedom ever came, I would not read that part of the Bible. Howard Thurman
Prayer is a form of communication between God and man and man and God. I am always impressed by the fact that it is recorded that the only thing that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to do was to pray. Howard Thurman
Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Howard Thurman
The movement of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men and women often calls them to act against the spirit of their times or causes them to anticipate a spirit which is yet in the making. In a moment of dedication, they are given wisdom and courage to dare a deed that challenges and to kindle a hope that inspires. Howard Thurman
There is a certain grandeur and nobility in administering to another’s need out of one’s fullness and plenty. Howard Thurman
I will light candles this Christmas, candles of joy, despite all sadness, Candles of hope where despair keeps watch. Candles of courage where fear is ever present, candles of peace for tempest tossed days, Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens. Candles of love to inspire all my living, Candles that will burn all the year long. Howard Thurman
A man is a man, no more, no less. The awareness of this fact marks the supreme moment of human dignity. Howard Thurman
When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home when the shepherds are back with their flock. The work of Christmas begins. To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations, To bring peace among brothers, To make music in the heart. Howard Thurman
Of all weapons, love is the most deadly and devastating, and few there be who dare trust their fate in its hands. Howard Thurman
Follow the grain in your own wood. Howard Thurman
Do not be silent; there is no limit to the power that may be released through you. Howard Thurman
A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope. Howard Thurman
Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak. Howard Thurman
Keep alive the dream; for as long as a man has a dream in his heart, he cannot lose the significance of living. Howard Thurman
Nothing less than a great daring in the face of overwhelming odds can achieve the inner security in which fear cannot possibly survive. It is true that a man cannot be serene unless he possesses something about which to be serene. Here we reach the high water mark of prophetic religion, and it is of the essence of the religion of Jesus of Nazareth. Of course God cares for the grass of the field, which lives a day and is no more, or the sparrow that falls unnoticed by the wayside. He also holds the stars in their appointed places, leaves his mark in every living thing. And he cares for me! To be assured of this becomes the answer to the threat of violence yea, to violence itself. To the degree to which a man knows this, he is unconquerable from within and without. Howard Thurman
Fate is the raw materials of experience. They come uninvited and often unanticipated. Destiny is what a man does with these raw materials. Howard Thurman
In the presence of an overwhelming sincerity on the part of the disinherited, the dominant themselves are caught with no defense They are thrown back upon themselves for their rating. Howard Thurman
In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair. Howard Thurman
The masses of men live with their backs constantly against the wall. They are the poor, the disinherited, the dispossessed. What does our religion say to them? The issue is not what it counsels them to do for others whose need may be greater, but what religion offers to meet their own needs. The search for an answer to this question is perhaps the most important religious quest of modern life. Howard Thurman
Twilight a time of pause when nature changes her guard. All living things would fade and die from too much light or too much dark if twilight were not. Howard Thurman
In the face of all the uncertainties that surround any decision, the wise man acts in the light of his best judgment illumined by the integrity of his profoundest spiritual insights. Then the rest is in the hands of the future and in the mind of God. The possibility of error, of profound and terrible error, is at once the height and the depth of man’s freedom. For this, God be praised! Howard Thurman
He recognized with authentic realism that anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to his destiny. Howard Thurman
It is only when people live in an environment in which they are not required to exert supreme effort into just keeping alive that they seem to be able to select ends besides those of mere physical survival. Howard Thurman
The years, the months, the days, and the hours have flown by my open window. Here and there an incident, a towering moment, a naked memory, an etched countenance, a whisper in the dark, a golden glow these and much more are the woven fabric of the time I have lived. Howard Thurman
The awareness of being a child of God tends to stabilize the ego and results in a new courage, fearlessness, and power. I have seen it happen again and again. Howard Thurman
