twofigs:

“do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. do justly now. love mercy now. walk humbly now. you are not obligated to complete the work but neither are you free to abandon it.”

from the talmud

thank you to all those who have been gracious enough to correct me on this and tell me this is not from the talmud. i apologize for that — this passage was cited in something else i was reading, and those authors cited the talmud. i believe the correct citation for this is: barbara j. mcclure’s paraphrase of rabbi rami shapiro’s wisdom of the sages, a commentary on the pirkei avot (en: ethics of the fathers).