Dwelling is not primarily inhabiting but taking care of and creating that space within which something comes into its own and flourishes.
Everyone is the other and no one is himself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that individual identity is influenced by relationships with others and that we often lose our sense of self in the process.
Martin Heidegger's quote implies that our identities are shaped by our interactions with others. The idea is that everyone we encounter influences us, making it difficult to have a true sense of self. Instead of being isolated individuals, we become reflections of others' perspectives, beliefs, and expectations, leading to a blurred line between personal identity and the identities formed through social connections.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about individuality versus community, this quote highlights the complexities of personal identity.
More from Martin Heidegger
All quotes βCelebration... is self restraint, is attentiveness, is questioning, is meditating, is awaiting, is the step over into the more wakeful glimpse of the wonder - the wonder that a world is worlding around us at all, that there are beings rather than nothing, that things are and we ourselves are in their midst, that we ourselves are and yet barely know who we are, and barely know that we do not know all this.
Transcendence constitutes selfhood.
So long as we represent technology as an instrument, we remain held fast in the will to master it.
The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.
Being-alone is a deficient mode of being-with; its possibility is a proof for the latter.
Similar quotes
What is an "I", and why are such things found (at least so far) only in association with, as poet Russell Edson once wonderfully phrased it, "teetering bulbs of dread and dream" - that is, only in association with certain kinds of gooey lumps encased in hard protective shells mounted atop mobile pedestals that roam the world on pairs of slightly fuzzy, jointed stilts?
Is it not the great end of religion, and, in particular, the glory of Christianity, to extinguish the malignant passions; to curb the violence, to control the appetites, and to smooth the asperities of man; to make us compassionate and kind, and forgiving one to another; to make us good husbands, good fathers, good friends; and to render us active and useful in the discharge of the relative social and civil duties?
Forget everything you've ever learned about the stars and they'll once more be transformed into angels, or into children, or into whatever you want to believe at that moment. It won't make you more stupid - after all, it's only a game - but it could enrich your life.
Peace and not war is the father of all things.
If you have embraced a creed which appears to be free from the ordinary dirtiness of politics - a creed from which you yourself cannot expect to draw any material advantage - surely that proves that you are in the right?
Hold fast to the Bible. To the influence of this Book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization and to this we must look as our guide in the future.