There are three principles in a man’s being and life, the principle of thought, the principle of speech, and the principle of action. The origin of all conflict between me and my fellow-men is that I do not say what I mean and I don’t do what I say.
—Martin Buber
Topics: Conflict
Power abdicates only under stress of counter-power.
—Martin Buber
Topics: Stress
All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
—Martin Buber
Topics: Travel
Play is the exultation of the possible.
—Martin Buber
Topics: Rest, Pleasure, Leisure
Zusya said, a short while before his death:
“In the world to come I shall not be asked:
“Why were you not Moses?” I shall be asked:
“Why were you not Zusya?”
—Martin Buber
Topics: Character
How would man exist if God did not need him, and how would you exist? You need God in order to be, and God needs you
—Martin Buber
Topics: God
We cannot avoid using power, cannot escape the compulsion to afflict the world, so let us, cautious in diction and mighty in contradiction, love powerfully.
—Martin Buber
Topics: Power, Love
The world is not comprehensible, but it is embraceable: through the embracing of one of its beings.
—Martin Buber
Topics: World
The real struggle is not between East and West, or capitalism and communism, but between education and propaganda.
—Martin Buber
Topics: Propaganda
Solitude is the place of purification.
—Martin Buber
Topics: Solitude
I do not accept any absolute formulas for living. No preconceived code can see ahead to everything that can happen in a man’s life. As we live, we grow and our beliefs change. They must change. So I think we should live with this constant discovery. We should be open to this adventure in heightened awareness of living. We should stake our whole existence on our willingness to explore and experience.
—Martin Buber
Topics: Experience
The one who count are those persons who-though they may be of little renown-respond to and are responsible for the continuation of the living spirit.
—Martin Buber
Topics: People
Some would deny any legitimate use of the word God because it has been misused so much. Certainly it is the most burdened of all human words. Precisely for that reason it is the most imperishable and unavoidable. And how much weight has all erroneous talk about God’s nature and works (although there never has been nor can be any such talk that is not erroneous) compared with the one truth that all men who have addressed God really meant him? For whoever pronounces the word God and really means Thou, addresses, no matter what his delusion, the true Thou of his life that cannot be restricted by any other and to whom he stands in a relationship that includes all others.
—Martin Buber
Topics: God
He who loves brings God and the World together.
—Martin Buber
The atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than the believer caught up in his own false image of God.
—Martin Buber
When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.
—Martin Buber
Topics: Love
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Wilhelm Reich Austrian Psychoanalyst
- Abraham Joshua Heschel American Jewish Rabbi
- Moses Mendelssohn German Jewish Philosopher
- Ludwig Wittgenstein Austrian-born British Philosopher
- Jacques Derrida French Philosopher, Literary Theorist
- Murray Bookchin American Political Thinker
- Albert Einstein German-born Theoretical Physicist
- Karl Popper Austrian-born British Philosopher
- Abraham Isaac Kook Latvian-born Jewish Rabbi
- Friedrich Hayek British Economist, Social Philosopher
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