Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Toyohiko Kagawa

Japanese Christian Pacifist, Christian Reformer and Labor Activist

"By divine revelation is meant the entrance of truth into the depth of living. As long as truth does not hold sway over the whole life, cognition and life are two separate entities, God and man are living apart from each other."

"In the heart of the God of the universe, each child of his is as necessary to him as the fingers are to the hand.-In the marvelous design of the universe, not even a sparrow can fall to earth meaninglessly ..."

"It is not enough to have ideals. We must translate them into action. We must clear our own little corner of creation."

"It becomes essential to choose one's path. Life consists in making these choices. One develops by choosing. It requires strength to become a child of God ..."

"Love is creation raised to a higher degree."

"May I never find myself yawning at life."

"Love is the ultimate revelation, the final sanctuary."

"Not everything in man's life is summed up in the problem of food. Anyone who thinks that a civilization can be founded on bread alone makes a great mistake. No matter how much bread there is, it cannot produce a man: it can only nourish him. Life exists before food. Man's life comes from the very origin of life. Therefore civilization does not follow the forms of production. All social life follows the action of life."

"Science books are letters from God, telling how He runs His universe."

"Men who fear to make the sacrifice of love will have to fight"

"As the sculptor devotes himself to wood and stone, I would devote myself to my soul."

"God knows the secret plan of the things he will do for the world, using my hand."

"I read in a book that a man called Christ went about doing good. It distresses me that I am so easily satisfied with just going about."

"Though my muscles may stiffen, though my skin may wrinkle, may I never find myself yawning at life."

"We are mindful, O God, that You dwell among the lowliest people of the Earth, that You sit on the dust-heap among those in the slums and those in prison, that you are present with the juvenile delinquents and the homeless, that You throng with the beggars seeking bread, that You suffer with the sick, and that You stand in line with the unemployed. May we be mindful that when we forget the unemployed, we forget You."