Six days we wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth; on the Sabbath we especially care for the need of eternity planted in the soul.  The world has our hands, but our soul belongs to Someone Else.  Six days we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time, to turn from the results to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.  Labor is a craft, but perfect rest is an art -- the result of accord in body, mind, and imagination.
      - Abraham Heschel, The Power of The Sabbath

To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone with everything is to succumb to violence.  The frenzy of the activist neutralizes his work for peace.  It destroys the fruitfulness of his own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.
      - Thomas Merton, The Violence Of Modern Life

 

It is no accident that Gandhi sat a long time in his ashram before launching the historic Salt March. He was superbly educated and intimately acquainted with India's troubles, but these were not enough in themselves to provide the vision he needed.
- Nelson Foster