The law is not thrust upon man; it rests deep within him, to waken when the call comes. Martin Buber More Quotes by Martin Buber More Quotes From Martin Buber He who desires to become aware of the hidden light must lift the feeling of fear up to its source. And he can accomplish this if he judges himself and all he does. For then he sheds all fears and lifts fear that has fallen down. But if he does not judge himself, he will be judged from on high, and this judgment will come upon him in the guise of countless things, and all the things in the world will become messengers of God who carry out the judgment on this man. Martin Buber lightjudgingmen The basic word I-Thou can be spoken only with one's whole being. The concentration and fusion into a whole being can never be accomplished by me, can never be accomplished without me. I require a Thou to become; becoming I, I say Thou. Martin Buber fusionaccomplishedbecoming The I of the basic word I-Thou is different from that of the basic word I-It. Martin Buber different There are people of spirit and there are people of passion, both less common than one might think. Rarer still are the people of spirit and passion. But rarest of all is a passionable spirit. Martin Buber passionspirituallove The perpetual enemy of faith in the true God is not atheism (the claim that there is no God), but rather Gnosticism (the claim that God is known). Martin Buber gnosticismatheismenemy About what mainly constituted what you ask, it was something other. It was just a certain inclination to meet people. And as far as possible, to change something in the other, but also to let me be changed by him. At any event, I had no resistance, I put no resistance to it. I already began as a young man. I felt I have not the right to want to change another if I am not open to be changed by him as far as it is legitimate. Martin Buber atheismmenpeople God wants man to fulfill his commands as a human being and with the quality peculiar to human beings. Martin Buber qualitypeculiarmen Religion means goal and way, politics implies end and means. The political end is recognizable by the fact that it may be attained--in success--and its attainment is historically recorded. The religious goal remains, even in man's highest experiences, that which simply provides direction on the mortal way; it never enters into historical consummation. Martin Buber religiousmenmean Power abdicates only under the stress of counter-power. Martin Buber under-stressstresspower When a man grows aware of a new way in which to serve God, he should carry it around with him secretly, and without uttering it, for nine months, as though he were pregnant with it, and let others know of it only at the end of that time, as though it were a birth. Martin Buber ninemenway What is it that is eternal: the primal phenomenon, present in the here and now, of what we call revelation? It is man's emerging from the moment of the supreme encounter, being no longer the same as he was when entering into it. Martin Buber enteringencountersmen If a person kills a tree before its time, it is like having murdered a soul.-Rabbi Nachman Martin Buber rabbisoultree I have learned a new form of service from the wars of Frederick, king of Prussia. It is not necessary to approach the enemy in order to attack him. In fleeing from him, it is possible to circumvent him as he advances and fall on him from the rear and force him to surrender. What is needed is not to strike straight at evil but to withdraw to the sources of divine power, and from there to circle around evil, bend it and transform it into its opposite. Martin Buber kingswarfall God cannot be seen, but He can listened to and spoken to! Martin Buber The concept of guilt is found most powerfully developed even in the most primitive communal forms which we know... the man is guilty who violates one of the original laws which dominate the society and which are mostly derived from a divine founder; the boy who is accepted into the tribal community and learns its laws, which bind him thenceforth, learns to promise; this promise is often given under the sign of death, which is symbolically carried out on the boy, with a symbolical rebirth. Martin Buber lawmenboys To him who knows how to read the legend, it conveys more truth than the chronicle. Martin Buber chronicleslegendsknow-how One must be truly able to say I in order to know the mystery of the Thou in its whole truth. Martin Buber ablemindfulnessorder The work produced is a thing among things, able to be experienced and described as a sum of qualities. But from time to time it can face the receptive beholder in its whole embodied form. Martin Buber qualityablefaces From my youth onwards I have found in Jesus my great brother. That Christianity has regarded and does regard him as God and Savior has always appeared to me a fact of the highest importance which, for his sake and my own, I must endeavor to understand . . . I am more than ever certain that a great place belongs to him in Israel's history of faith and that this place cannot be described by any of the usual categories. Martin Buber israelbrotherjesus Freedom and destiny are solemnly promised to one another and linked together in meaning. Martin Buber linkeddestinytogether
