Were not the Revelation of Baha’u’llah one adaptable to the entire world and its diverse nations, it could not be a unique and universal Revelation, but its elasticity adapts itself to all conditions, and its spirit is one that moulds itself into every vehicle and need for the accomplishment of the divine plan of unity.
But when some follow merely the hard and fixed letter of the law, they deprive it (the Revelation) of its elastic quality—the spirit—and endeavor to convert it into a hard instrument of inflexible qualities.
- 'Abdu'l-Baha (Utterances of Abdu’l-Baha recorded by Dr. Edward Getsinger in answer to his questions asked during his pilgrimage in 1915; Star of the West, vol. 6, no. 6, June 24, 1915)