222 Quotes by Martin Buber

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.

The basic word I-You can only be spoken with one’s whole being. The basic word I-It can never be spoken with one’s whole being.

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.

Love is responsibility of an I for a You: in this consists what cannot consist in any feeling – the equality of all lovers...

In adolescence students are suddenly turned loose on books worth reading, but generally don’t know how to read them.

The true meaning of love one’s neighbor is not that it is a command from God which we are to fulfill, but that through it and in it we meet God.

For God does not want to be believed in, to be debated and defended by us, but simply to be realized through us.

There is something that can be found in one place. It is a great treasure which may be called the fulfillment of existence. The place where this treasure can be found is the place where one stands.

Marriage, for instance, will never be given new life except by that out of which true marriage always arises, the revealing by two people of the Thou to one another. Out of this a marriage is built up by the Thou that is neither of the I’s. This is the metaphysical and metapsychical factor of love to which feelings of love are mere accompaniments.