Martin Buber
Martin Buber
Martin Buberwas an Austrian-born Israeli Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship. Born in Vienna, Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in philosophy. In 1902, he became the editor of the weekly Die Welt, the central organ of the Zionist movement, although he later withdrew from organizational work in Zionism. In...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth8 February 1878
CountryGermany
To look away from the world, or to stare at it, does not help a man to reach God; but he who sees the world in Him stands in His presence.
One who truly meets the world goes out also to God.
We should also pray for the wicked among the peoples of the world; we should love them too.
Meet the world with the fullness of your being, and you shall meet God. Of you wish to believe, love.
Every person born in this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique.
Before his death, Rabbi Zusya said "In the coming world, they will not ask me: 'Why were you not Moses?' They will ask me: 'Why were you not Zusya?
He who loves brings God and the World together.
What has to be given up is not the I, but that drive for self-affirmation which impels man to flee from the unreliable, unsolid, unlasting, unpredictable, dangerous world of relation into the having of things.
When a man has made peace within himself, he will be able to make peace in the whole world.
The world is not comprehensible, but it is embraceable: through the embracing of one of its beings.
Everything depends on inner change; when this has taken place, then, and only then does the world change.
When people come to you for help, do not turn them off with pious words, saying, 'Have faith and take your troubles to God.' Act instead as though there were no God, as though there were only one person in the world who could help -- only yourself.
Power abdicates only under the stress of counter-power.
We cannot avoid using power, cannot escape the compulsion to aflict the world so let us, cautious in diction and mighty in contradiction, love powerfully