“The atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than the believer caught up in his own false image of God.”

—  Martin Buber

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than the believer caught up in his own false image of …" by Martin Buber?
Martin Buber photo
Martin Buber 58
German Jewish Existentialist philosopher and theologian 1878–1965

Related quotes

John Ruysbroeck photo

“God is more interior to us than we are to ourselves.
His acting in us is nearer and more inward than our own actions.
God works in us from inside outwards;
creatures work on us from the outside.”

John Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) Flemish mystic

John of Ruysbroeck Spiritual Espousals, complete works, Mechelen 1934, vol. 1, p. 148. English version New York 1953.

Eckhart Tolle photo
Eckhart Tolle photo

“Man made God in his own image…”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

“First, a man is created in his own image, and only afterwards in the image of God.”

Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787–1859) Polish rabbi

As quoted in Leaping Souls : Rabbi Menachem Mendel And The Spirit Of Kotzk (1993) by Chaim Feinberg
Variant translation: Man must "guard himself and his uniqueness, and not imitate his fellow … for initially man was created in his own image, and only afterwards in the image of God.

Thich Nhat Hanh photo

“It is said that God has created man in his own image. But it may be that humankind has created God in the image of humankind.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers

Robert G. Ingersoll photo
Coventry Patmore photo

“As the Word of God is God's image, so the word of man is his image, and "a man is known by his speech."”

Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) English poet

Vol. II, Ch. V Aphorisms and Extracts, p. 72.
Memoirs and Correspondence (1900)

Johannes Kepler photo

“Since geometry is co-eternal with the divine mind before the birth of things, God himself served as his own model in creating the world (for what is there in God which is not God?), and he with his own image reached down to humanity.”

Book IV, Ch. 1, as quoted in "Kepler's Astrology"in Kepler, Four Hundred Years (1975) edited by Arthur and Peter Beer.
Harmonices Mundi (1618)

George Fox photo

“As I was turning, he caught me by the hand, and with tears in his eyes said, "Come again to my house; for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together, we should be nearer one to the other"; adding that he wished me no more ill than he did to his own soul. I told him if he did he wronged his own soul; and admonished him to hearken to God's voice, that he might stand in his counsel, and obey it; and if he did so, that would keep him from hardness of heart; but if he did not hear God's voice, his heart would be hardened. He said it was true.”

George Fox (1624–1691) English Dissenter and founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

On his meeting with Oliver Cromwell, in Autobiography of George Fox (1694)
Context: When I came in I was moved to say, "Peace be in this house"; and I exhorted him to keep in the fear of God, that he might receive wisdom from Him, that by it he might be directed, and order all things under his hand to God's glory.
l spoke much to him of Truth, and much discourse I had with him about religion; wherein he carried himself very moderately. But he said we quarrelled with priests, whom he called ministers. I told him I did not quarrel with them, but that they quarrelled with me and my friends. "But," said I, "if we own the prophets, Christ, and the apostles, we cannot hold up such teachers, prophets, and shepherds, as the prophets, Christ, and the apostles declared against; but we must declare against them by the same power and Spirit."
Then I showed him that the prophets, Christ, and the apostles declared freely, and against them that did not declare freely; such as preached for filthy lucre, and divined for money, and preached for hire, and were covetous and greedy, that could never have enough; and that they that have the same spirit that Christ, and the prophets, and the apostles had, could not but declare against all such now, as they did then. As I spoke, he several times said, it was very good, and it was truth. I told him that all Christendom (so called) had the Scriptures, but they wanted the power and Spirit that those had who gave forth the Scriptures; and that was the reason they were not in fellowship with the Son, nor with the Father, nor with the Scriptures, nor one with another.
Many more words I had with him; but people coming in, I drew a little back. As I was turning, he caught me by the hand, and with tears in his eyes said, "Come again to my house; for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together, we should be nearer one to the other"; adding that he wished me no more ill than he did to his own soul. I told him if he did he wronged his own soul; and admonished him to hearken to God's voice, that he might stand in his counsel, and obey it; and if he did so, that would keep him from hardness of heart; but if he did not hear God's voice, his heart would be hardened. He said it was true.
Then I went out; and when Captain Drury came out after me he told me the Lord Protector had said I was at liberty, and might go whither I would.
Then I was brought into a great hall, where the Protector's gentlemen were to dine. I asked them what they brought me thither for. They said it was by the Protector's order, that I might dine with them. I bid them let the Protector know that I would not eat of his bread, nor drink of his drink. When he heard this he said, "Now I see there is a people risen that I cannot win with gifts or honours, offices or places; but all other sects and people I can." It was told him again that we had forsaken our own possessions; and were not like to look for such things from him.

Ray Bradbury photo

Related topics