One cannot in the nature of things expect a little tree that has been turned into a club to put forth leaves.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that one cannot expect something diminished or altered to revert to its original potential.
In this quote, Martin Buber illustrates the idea that once something has been fundamentally changed or damaged, it is unrealistic to expect it to reclaim its original form or capabilities. The 'little tree turned into a club' symbolizes a natural entity that has been stripped of its purpose and potential, highlighting the importance of nurturing and preserving the inherent qualities of life.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about personal growth and potential.
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.
Who will observe the observers?
If [people] place such things as friendship and family ties above their own productive work, yes, then they are immoral. Friendship, family life and human relationships are not primary in a man's life. A man who places others first, above his own creative work, is an emotional parasite.
What is the foundation of that interest all men feel in Greek history, letters, art, and poetry, in all its periods, from the Heroic or Homeric age down to the domestic life of the Athenians and Spartans, four or five centuries later? What but this, that every man passes personally through a Grecian period.
It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.
There are three kinds of praise, that which we yield, that which we lend, and that which we pay. We yield it to the powerful from fear, we lend it to the weak from interest, and we pay it to the deserving from gratitude.
He who builds on the people, builds on the mud
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.