“If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you!”
As quoted in Tales of the Hasidim : The Later Masters (1948) by Martin Buber as translated by Olga Marx
Variant translations:
If I am I, simply because I am I, and thou art thou, simply because thou art thou; then I am I and thou art thou. But if I am I because thou art thou, and thou art thou because I am I, then I am not I and thou art not thou.
As quoted in The Rift in Israel: Religious Authority and Secular Democracy (1971) by Samuel Clement Leslie, p. 145
If I am I, because you are you, and you are you, because I am I, then I am not I, and you are not you. But if I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you, and we can talk.
As quoted in Let Us Reason Together (1970) by William Berkowitz and William Leonard Laurence
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Menachem Mendel of Kotzk8
Polish rabbi 1787–1859Related quotes
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