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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; in this way, and in no other, do you reach anthropological insight.

— Martin Buber What is Man? (1938)

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More quotes by Martin Buber

All names of God remain hallowed because they have been used not only to speak of God but also to speak to him.

I and Thou (1923)

The real struggle is not between East and West, or capitalism and communism, but between education and propaganda.

Encounter with Martin Buber (1972)

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.

The Legend of the Baal-Shem (1955)

Greatness by nature includes a power, but not a will to power.

Between Man and Man (1965)

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.

What is Man? (1938)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Martin Buber (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.