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About this quote

What does it mean?
Prophets are meant to stand against rulers and the prevailing direction of history. Their role is to challenge established power and narratives.
In plain terms
A prophet opposes kings and the main flow of history.
What can you take from it?
True leadership often means challenging power and accepted history.

Where it applies

  • political commentary
  • moral leadership
  • social critique

Putting it to work

  • challenge authority
  • question history
  • speak truth to power

Questions to consider

  • Who opposes power in your time?
  • What would you stand against?

Another view

The quote romanticizes opposition without noting the personal cost to prophets.

More from Martin Buber

  1. The perfection of any matter, the highest or the lowest, touches on the divine.

    Permalink to quote #27
  2. The world is not comprehensible, but it is embraceable: through the embracing of one of its beings.

    Permalink to quote #29
  3. The ones who count are those persons who- though they may be of little renown- respond to and are responsible for the continuation of the living spirit.

    Permalink to quote #26

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