There are people of spirit and there are people of passion, both less common than one might think. Rarer still are the people of spirit and passion. But rarest of all is a passionable spirit.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the rarity of individuals who possess both spirit and passion, suggesting that true greatness comes from combining these qualities.
Martin Buber's quote emphasizes the importance of having both spirit and passion in one's approach to life. While many people may have either trait, those who embody both, and particularly a 'passionable spirit', are exceedingly rare. This combination allows for a deeper engagement with life and a more profound impact on the world around them, suggesting that such individuals are uniquely equipped to inspire and lead others.
In practice
In a motivational speech to inspire students to pursue their passions.
When I confront a human being as my Thou and speak the basic word I-Thou to him, then he is no thing among things nor does he consist of things. He is no longer He or She, a dot in the world grid of space and time, nor a condition to be experienced and described, a loose bundle of named qualities. Neighborless and seamless, he is Thou and fills the firmament. Not as if there were nothing but he; but everything else lives in his light.
Play is the exultation of the possible.
There is no room for God in him who is full of himself.
Every person born in this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique.
It is usual to think of good and evil as two poles, two opposite directions, the antithesis of one another...We must begin by doing away with this convention.
God dwells wherever man lets Him in.
Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.
Much as I have no wish to hurt anyone's feelings, my first obligation has not been to be nice but to be true to my perhaps peculiar memories, experiences and feelings.
To avoid discovery I stay on the run. To discover things for myself, I stay on the run.
However much faith to obey God we now have, we will need to strengthen it continually and keep it refreshed constantly. We can do that by deciding now to be more quick to obey and more determined to endure. Learning to start early and to be steady are the keys to spiritual preparation. Procrastination and inconsistency are its mortal enemies.
Don't allow your mind to tell your heart what to do. The mind gives up easily
One might equate growing up with a mistrust of words. A mature person trusts his eyes more than his ears. Irrationality often manifests itself in upholding the word against the evidence of the eyes. Children, savages and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard.
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