--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Here is the infallible test. Imagine…" description: "\"Here is the infallible test. Imagine yourself in a situation where you are alone, wholly alone on earth, and you are offered one of the two, books or m..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98f/martin-buber-2381_atheism_here-is-the-infallible-test-imagine-your_2763476.jpg" --- # Here is the infallible test. Imagine yourself in a… ![“Here is the infallible test. Imagine yourself in a situation where you are alone, wholly alone on earth, and you are offered one of the two, books or men. I often hear men prizing their solitude but that is only because there are still men somewhere on earth even though in the far distance. I knew…” quote by Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98f/martin-buber-2381_atheism_here-is-the-infallible-test-imagine-your_2763476.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98f/martin-buber-2381_atheism_here-is-the-infallible-test-imagine-your_2763476.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98f/martin-buber-2381_atheism_here-is-the-infallible-test-imagine-your_2763476.jpg) > “Here is the infallible test. Imagine yourself in a situation where you are alone, wholly alone on earth, and you are offered one of the two, books or men. I often hear men prizing their solitude but that is only because there are still men somewhere on earth even though in the far distance. I knew nothing of books when I came forth from the womb of my mother, and I shall die without books, with another human hand in my own. I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human being looking at me.” [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. It emphasizes the irreplaceable value of books and human connection, suggesting solitude is incomplete without both. **In simple terms:** Books and people are essential. Key Takeaway Seek both reading and companionship. Themes knowledge human connection solitude literature Mood contemplative thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal growth - education - loneliness - reading habits Key Concepts existential reflection value of art Questions to Reflect On - What role do books play in your life? - How do you balance reading with human interaction? A Different Perspective Books alone cannot fulfill social needs. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Atheism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atheism/) [Because i can](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/because-i-can/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Books Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books-human-1450275/) [Dies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dies/) [Distance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/distance/) [Doors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doors/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Far distance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/far-distance/) [Hands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hands/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Human hands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-hands/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [I can](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-can/) [Imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagine/) [Infallible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infallible/) [Infallible Test](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infallible-test-1849106/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Mother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother/) [My own](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/my-own/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Positive atheism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/positive-atheism/) [Prizing Solitude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prizing-solitude-3188238/) [Situation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/situation/) [Solitude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/solitude/) [Solitude Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/solitude-men-845934/) [Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stills/) [Surrender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surrender/) [Tests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tests/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) [Where you are](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/where-you-are/) [Womb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/womb/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [“If I had been asked in my early youth whether I preferred to have dealings only with men or only with books, my answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/if-i-had-been-asked-in-my-early-youth-whether-i-preferred-to-have/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [Golf... is the infallible test. The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-g-wodehouse-2/golf-is-the-infallible-test-the-man-who-can-go-into-a-patch-of-rough/) [P. G. Wodehouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-g-wodehouse-2/) > [If minds are truly alive they will seek out books, for books are the human race recounting its memorable experiences, confronting its problems, searching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-minds-are-truly-alive-they-will-seek-out-books-for-books-are-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One's life is more formed, I sometimes think, by books than by human beings: it is out of books one learns about love and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/one-s-life-is-more-formed-i-sometimes-think-by-books-than-by-human-2/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Most books are about aspects of human knowledge - Few people write books about human ignorance, despite the fact that there would be much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/piero-scaruffi/most-books-are-about-aspects-of-human-knowledge-few-people-write/) [Piero Scaruffi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/piero-scaruffi/) > [One's life is more formed, I sometimes think, by books than by human beings: it is out of books one learns about love and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/one-s-life-is-more-formed-i-sometimes-think-by-books-than-by-human/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Wherever you may seek solitude, men will ferret you out and compel you to belong to their desperate company of oddfellows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/wherever-you-may-seek-solitude-men-will-ferret-you-out-and-compel-you/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“In fatigue and solitude men emanate the divine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-ferdinand-celine/in-fatigue-and-solitude-men-emanate-the-divine/) [Louis-Ferdinand Céline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-ferdinand-celine/) > [“If that which we have found is the corruption of solitude, then what can men wish for save corruption? If this is the great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/if-that-which-we-have-found-is-the-corruption-of-solitude-then-what/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [God is the solitude of men. There was only me: I alone decided to commit Evil; alone, I invented Good. I am the one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/god-is-the-solitude-of-men-there-was-only-me-i-alone-decided-to/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [By this time, like one who had set out on his way by night, and travelled through a region of smooth or idle dreams,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/by-this-time-like-one-who-had-set-out-on-his-way-by-night-and/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [“The failure of a political enterprise intended to bring about a fundamental change in the order of society can have one of three different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-francis-hudson/the-failure-of-a-political-enterprise-intended-to-bring-about-a/) [Geoffrey Francis Hudson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-francis-hudson/) > [“No star is ever lost we once have seen, We always may be what we might have been Since Good, though only thought, Has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adelaide-anne-procter/no-star-is-ever-lost-we-once-have-seen-we-always-may-be-what-we-might/) [Adelaide Anne Procter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adelaide-anne-procter/) > [Far in distance, but near at heart, you'll always be the angel of my heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/far-in-distance-but-near-at-heart-you-ll-always-be-the-angel-of-my/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I love no one but you, I have discovered, but you are far away and I am here alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-handler/i-love-no-one-but-you-i-have-discovered-but-you-are-far-away-and-i-am/) [Daniel Handler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-handler/) ## More by Martin Buber > [This is the sacrifice: the endless possibility that is offered up on the altar of the form...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/this-is-the-sacrifice-the-endless-possibility-that-is-offered-up-on/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [Mundus vult decipi: the world wants to be deceived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/mundus-vult-decipi-the-world-wants-to-be-deceived/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [Greatness by nature includes a power, but not a will to power. ... The great man, whether we comprehend him in the most intense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/greatness-by-nature-includes-a-power-but-not-a-will-to-power-the/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [You can rake the muck this way, rake the muck that way-- it will always be muck. Have I sinned or have I not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/you-can-rake-the-muck-this-way-rake-the-muck-that-way-it-will-always/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [All actual life is encounter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/all-actual-life-is-encounter/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [God cannot be seen, but He can listened to and spoken to!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/god-cannot-be-seen-but-he-can-listened-to-and-spoken-to/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [What has to be given up is not the I, as most mystics suppose: this I is indispensable for any relationship, including the highest,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/what-has-to-be-given-up-is-not-the-i-as-most-mystics-suppose-this-i/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [In the beginning was the relationship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/in-the-beginning-was-the-relationship/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [To begin with oneself but not to end with onself. To start from oneself but not to aim at oneself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/to-begin-with-oneself-but-not-to-end-with-onself-to-start-from/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/all-journeys-have-secret-destinations-of-which-the-traveller-is/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [The concept of guilt is found most powerfully developed even in the most primitive communal forms which we know... the man is guilty who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/the-concept-of-guilt-is-found-most-powerfully-developed-even-in-the/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [This is the eternal origin of art that a human being confronts a form that wants to become a work through him. Not a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/this-is-the-eternal-origin-of-art-that-a-human-being-confronts-a-form/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [God is the "mysterium tremendum," that appears and overthrows, but he is also the mystery of the self-evident, nearer to me than my I.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/god-is-the-mysterium-tremendum-that-appears-and-overthrows-but-he-is/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [No limits are set to the ascent of man, and to each and everyone the highest stands open. Here it is only your personal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/no-limits-are-set-to-the-ascent-of-man-and-to-each-and-everyone-the/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) > [But when a man draws a lifeless thing into his passionate longing for dialogue, lending it independence and as it were a soul, then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-buber/but-when-a-man-draws-a-lifeless-thing-into-his-passionate-longing-for/) [Martin Buber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) [Explore all 169 Martin Buber quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-buber/) ## More Atheism quotes > [From Augustine down, theologians have tried to compel people to accept their special interpretation of the Scripture, and the tortures of the inquisition, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matilda-joslyn-gage/from-augustine-down-theologians-have-tried-to-compel-people-to-accept/) [Matilda Joslyn Gage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matilda-joslyn-gage/) > [“What I have a problem with is not so much religion or god, but faith. When you say you believe something in your heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penn-jillette/what-i-have-a-problem-with-is-not-so-much-religion-or-god-but-faith/) [Penn Jillette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penn-jillette/) > [Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/philosopher-is-a-dictator-who-modifies-accepted-standards-with-his/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [No philosophy, no religion, has ever brought so glad a message to the world as this good news of Atheism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-besant/no-philosophy-no-religion-has-ever-brought-so-glad-a-message-to-the/) [Annie Besant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-besant/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The inner defenses are unconscious. They consist of a kind of magic aura which the mind builds around cherished belief. Arguments which penetrate into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-inner-defenses-are-unconscious-they-consist-of-a-kind-of-magic/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [God speaks through me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/god-speaks-through-me/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/a-knowledge-of-the-existence-of-something-we-cannot-penetrate-of-the/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [You cannot ... transmute some incoherent mixture of words into sense merely by introducing the three-letter word "God" to be its grammatical subject.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antony-flew/you-cannot-transmute-some-incoherent-mixture-of-words-into-sense/) [Antony Flew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antony-flew/) > [Many humanists have argued that happiness involves a combination of hedonism and creative moral development; that an exuberant life fuses excellence and enjoyment, meaning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-kurtz/many-humanists-have-argued-that-happiness-involves-a-combination-of/) [Paul Kurtz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-kurtz/) > [If, with all the time at my disposal, with all the wealth of the resources of this vast universe, to do with as I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/if-with-all-the-time-at-my-disposal-with-all-the-wealth-of-the/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [Do you think that was kind? Do you think it was godlike? What would you think of a physician, if a woman came to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-h-gardener/do-you-think-that-was-kind-do-you-think-it-was-godlike-what-would-you/) [Helen H. Gardener](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-h-gardener/) > [Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-c-clarke/science-can-destroy-religion-by-ignoring-it-as-well-as-by-disproving/) [Arthur C. 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I knew nothing of books when I came forth from the womb of my mother, and I shall die without books, with another human hand in my own. 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