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.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility in helping others.
Martin Buber suggests that when individuals seek help, it is vital to engage with them sincerely and actively rather than simply invoking faith or spirituality. He advocates for taking personal responsibility to provide support, as if we were the sole source of assistance available to them, thereby emphasizing the importance of compassionate human connection and action over abstract religious platitudes.
In practice
In a speech about community service, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of direct action.
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.
Play is the exultation of the possible.
There is no room for God in him who is full of himself.
Every person born in this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique.
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.
God dwells wherever man lets Him in.
War and drink are the two things man is never too poor to buy.
The task of the church is to make the invisible Kingdom visible through faithful Christian living and witness-bearing .
It is easy enough to praise men for the courage of their convictions. I wish I could teach the sad young of this mealy generation the courage of their confusions.
War is the suicide of humanity because it kills the heart and kills love.
Life is not at all what you might think it to be_x000D_ _x000D_ A simple tale where each thing has its history_x000D_ _x000D_ It's much more than its scuffle and anything goes_x000D_ _x000D_ Both evil and good, subject to the same laws.
The sage does not act and therefore does not fail, does not seize and therefore does not lose.
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