I and Thou
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Ich und Du, usually translated as I and Thou, is a book by Martin Buber, published in 1923, and first translated from German to English in 1937.
Quotes[edit]
- as translated by Walter Kaufmann
- Das Ich des Grundworts Ich-Du ist ein andres als das des Grundworts Ich-Es.
- The I of the basic word I-You is different from that of the basic word I-It.
- p. 53
- The I of the basic word I-You is different from that of the basic word I-It.
- Grundworte sagen nicht etwas aus, was außer ihnen bestünde, sondern gesprochen stiften sie einen Bestand.
- Basic words do not state something that might exist outside them; by being spoken they establish a mode of existence.
- p. 53
- Basic words do not state something that might exist outside them; by being spoken they establish a mode of existence.
- Es gibt kein Ich an sich, sondern nur das Ich des Grundworts Ich-Du und das Ich des Grundworts Ich-Es. Wenn der Mensch Ich spricht, meint er eins von beiden. Das Ich, das er meint, dieses ist da, wenn er Ich spricht. … Wer ein Grundwort spricht, tritt in das Wort ein und steht darin.
- There is no I as such but only the I of the basic word I-You and the I of the basic word I-It. When a man says I, he means one or the other. The I he means is present when he says I. ... Whoever speaks one of the basic words steps into the word and stands in it.
- p. 54
- There is no I as such but only the I of the basic word I-You and the I of the basic word I-It. When a man says I, he means one or the other. The I he means is present when he says I. ... Whoever speaks one of the basic words steps into the word and stands in it.
- Das ist der ewige Ursprung der Kunst, daß einem Menschen Gestalt gegenübertritt und durch ihn Werk werden will. Keine Ausgeburt seine Seele, sondern Erscheinung, die an sie tritt und con ihr die wirkende Kraft erheischt. Es kommt auf eine Wesenstat des Menschen an: vollzieht er sie, spricht er mit seinem Wesen das Grundwort zu der erscheinenden Gestalt, dann strömt die wirkende Kraft, das Werk entsteht.
- This is the eternal origin of art that a human being confronts a form that wants to become a work through him. Not a figment of his soul but something that appears to the soul and demands the soul’s creative power. What is required is a deed that a man does with his whole being.
- p. 60
- This is the eternal origin of art that a human being confronts a form that wants to become a work through him. Not a figment of his soul but something that appears to the soul and demands the soul’s creative power. What is required is a deed that a man does with his whole being.
- Das Du begegnet mir. Aber ich trete in die unmittelbare Beziehung zu ihm. So ist die Beziehung Erwähltwerden und Erwählen, Passion und Aktion in einem. Wie denn eine Aktion des ganzen Wesens, als die Aufhebung aller Teilhandlungen und somit aller—nur in deren Grenzhaftigkeit gegründeter—Handlungsempfindungen, der Passion ähnlich werden muß.
- An action of the whole being must approach passivity, for it does away with all partial actions and thus with any sense of action, which always depends on limited exertions.
- p. 62
- An action of the whole being must approach passivity, for it does away with all partial actions and thus with any sense of action, which always depends on limited exertions.
- Das aber ist die erhabene Schwermut unseres Loses, daß jedes Du in unsrer Welt zum Es werden muß. So ausschließlich gegenwärtig es in der unmittelbaren Beziehung war: sowie sie sich ausgewirkt hat oder vom Mittel durchsetzt worden ist, wird es zum Gegenstand unter Gegenständen.
- This, however, is the sublime melancholy of our lot that every You must become an It in our world. However exclusively present it may have been in the direct relationship—as soon as the relationship has run its course or is permeated by means, the You becomes an object among objects.
- p. 68
- This, however, is the sublime melancholy of our lot that every You must become an It in our world. However exclusively present it may have been in the direct relationship—as soon as the relationship has run its course or is permeated by means, the You becomes an object among objects.
- Der ursprünglichen Walten des „Selbst“-Erhaltungstriebs haftet das Ichbewusstsein ebenso wenig an wie dem der anderen Triebe; nicht das Ich will sich da fortpflanzen, sondern der Leib, der noch von keinem Ich weiß.
- The original drive for “self”-preservation is no more accompanied by any I-consciousness than any other drive. What wants to propagate itself is not the I but the body that does not yet know of any I.
- p. 73
- The original drive for “self”-preservation is no more accompanied by any I-consciousness than any other drive. What wants to propagate itself is not the I but the body that does not yet know of any I.
- Die Begegnungserlebnisse des Urmenschen waren gewiß nicht zahmes Wohlgefallen; aber besser noch Gewalt am real erlebten Wesen als die gespenstische Fürsorge an antlitzlosen Nummern! Von jener führt ein Weg zu Gott, von dieser nur der ins Nichts.
- Primal man’s experiences of encounter were scarcely a matter of tame delight, but even violence against a being one really confronts is better than ghostly solicitude for faceless digits! From the former path leads to God, from the latter only to nothingness.
- p. 75
- Primal man’s experiences of encounter were scarcely a matter of tame delight, but even violence against a being one really confronts is better than ghostly solicitude for faceless digits! From the former path leads to God, from the latter only to nothingness.
- All names of God remain hallowed because they have been used not only to speak of God but also to speak to him.
- p. 123
- How much weight has all erroneous talk about God's nature and works (although there never has been nor can be any such talk that is not erroneous) compared with the one truth that all men who have addressed God really meant him? For whoever pronounces the word God and really means Thou, addresses, no matter what his delusion, the true Thou of his life that cannot be restricted by any other and to whom he stands in a relationship that includes all others.
- pp. 123-124
