Jewish philosopher (1878-1965)
The real struggle is not between East and West, or capitalism and communism, but between education and propaganda.
MARTIN BUBER
attributed, Encounter with Martin Buber
An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.
MARTIN BUBER
I and Thou
When we desire to lead men to God, we must not simply overthrow their idols. In each of these images we must seek to discover what divine quality he who carved it sought.
MARTIN BUBER
For the Sake of Heaven
The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one.
MARTIN BUBER
The Eclipse of God
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
I and Thou
All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
MARTIN BUBER
The Legend of the Baal-Shem
The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.
MARTIN BUBER
The Way of Man
When we see a great man desiring power instead of his real goal we soon recognize that he is sick, or more precisely that his attitude to his work is sick. He overreaches himself, the work denies itself to him, the incarnation of the spirit no longer takes place, and to avoid the threat of senselessness he snatches after empty power. This sickness casts the genius on to the same level as those hysterical figures who, being by nature without power, slave for power, in order that they may enjoy the illusion that they are inwardly powerful, and who in this striving for power cannot let a pause intervene, since a pause would bring with it the possibility of self-reflection and self-reflection would bring collapse.
MARTIN BUBER
Between Man and Man
The great man, whether we comprehend him in the most intense activity of his work or in the restful equipoise of his forces, is powerful, involuntarily and composedly powerful, but he is not avid for power. What he is avid for is the realization of what he has in mind, the incarnation of the spirit.
MARTIN BUBER
Between Man and Man
The Thou encounters me by grace -- it cannot be found by seeking. But that I speak the basic word to it is a deed of my whole being, is my essential deed.
MARTIN BUBER
I and Thou
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
"Power and Love"
Creation happens to us, burns itself into us, recasts us in burning -- we tremble and are faint, we submit. We take part in creation, meet the Creator, reach out to Him, helpers and companions.
MARTIN BUBER
I and Thou
So long as a man's power, that is, his capacity to realize what he has in mind, is bound to the goal, to the work, to the calling, it is, considered in itself, neither good nor evil, it is only a suitable or unsuitable instrument. But as soon as this bond with the goal is broken off or loosened, and the man ceases to think of power as the capacity to do something, but thinks of it as a possession, that is, thinks of power in itself, then his power, being cut off and self-satisfied, is evil; it is power withdrawn from responsibility, power which betrays the spirit, power in itself.
MARTIN BUBER
Between Man and Man
Greatness by nature includes a power, but not a will to power.
MARTIN BUBER
Between Man and Man
The world is not comprehensible, but it is embraceable: through the embracing of one of its beings.
MARTIN BUBER
I and Thou
The human person, the human being, is not just an object among objects, not just a thing in the world. The human being is a being-in-the-world, a being-with-others, a being-for-others.
MARTIN BUBER
lecture at the University of Frankfurt, 1958
So long as you "have" yourself, have yourself as an object, your experience of man is only as of a thing among things.
MARTIN BUBER
What is Man?
You do not attain to knowledge by remaining on the shore and watching the foaming waves, you must make the venture and cast yourself in, you must swim, alert and with all your force, even if a moment comes when you think you are losing consciousness.
MARTIN BUBER
What is Man?
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
attributed, Martin Buber: An Intimate Portrait
All real life is meeting.
MARTIN BUBER
I and Thou