Play is the exultation of the possible.
Martin BuberRead
When I confront a human being as my Thou and speak the basic word I-Thou to him, then he is no thing among things nor does he consist of things. He is no longer He or She, a dot in the world grid of space and time, nor a condition to be experienced and described, a loose bundle of named qualities. Neighborless and seamless, he is Thou and fills the firmament. Not as if there were nothing but he; but everything else lives in his light.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote illustrates the profound connection between individuals, emphasizing the value of recognizing each person as a unique being rather than an object.
Martin Buber's quote emphasizes the transformative nature of human relationships when one approaches another as a unique individual, rather than as an object or mere condition. By addressing someone as 'Thou', Buber suggests that we can transcend superficial judgments and appreciate the inherent dignity and presence of the other person, allowing for a deeper connection that illuminates our existence and brings meaning to our interactions.
Themes
ConnectionRelationshipHumanityPresenceBeing
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on community and empathy.
More from Martin Buber
All quotes βThere is no room for God in him who is full of himself.
Martin BuberRead
Every person born in this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique.
Martin BuberRead
It is usual to think of good and evil as two poles, two opposite directions, the antithesis of one another...We must begin by doing away with this convention.
Martin BuberRead
God dwells wherever man lets Him in.
Martin BuberRead
Feelings dwell in man; but man dwells in his love. That is no metaphor, but the actual truth. Love does not cling to the I in such a way as to have the Thou only for its " content," its object; but love is between I and Thou. The man who does not know this, with his very being know this, does not know love; even though he ascribes to it the feelings he lives through, experiences, enjoys, and expresses.
Martin BuberRead
Similar quotes
The point of mythology or myth is to point to the horizon and to point back to ourselves: This is who we are; this is where we came from; and this is where we're going. And a lot of Western society over the last hundred years - the last 50 years really - has lost that. We have become rather aimless and wandering.
J. Michael StraczynskiRead
He was one of those men, and they are not the commonest, of whom we can know the best only by following them away from the marketplace, the platform, and the pulpit, entering with them into their own homes, hearing the voice with which they speak to the young and aged about their own hearthstone, and witnessing their thoughtful care for the everyday wants of everyday companions, who take all their kindness as a matter of course, and not as a subject for panegyric.
George EliotRead
A human being becomes human not through the casual convergence of certain biological conditions, but through an act of will and love on the part of other people.
Italo CalvinoRead
Wherever the fear of God rules in the heart, it will appear both in works of charity and piety, and neither will excuse us from the other.
Matthew HenryRead
The conception of gods originated in fear and curiosity. Primitive man, unable to understand the phenomena of nature, and harassed by them, saw in every terrifying manifestation some sinister force expressly directed against him; and as ignorance and fear are the parents of all superstition, the troubled fancy of primitive man wove the God idea.
Emma GoldmanRead
Yoga is a mirror to look at ourselves from within.
B.K.S. IyengarRead