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.
Woes and wonders of power, that tonic hell, synthesis of poison and panacea.
In time you may discover everything that can be discovered, and still your progress will only be progress away from humanity. The distance between you and them can one day become so great that your joyous cry over some new gain could be answered by an universal shriek of horror.
Patriotism is "a very definite feeling of preference for one's own people or State above all other peoples and States, and a consequent wish to get for that people or State the greatest advantages and power that can be got - things which are obtainable only at the expense of the advantages and power of other peoples or States."
Race and class are rendered distinct analytically only to produce the realization that the analysis of the one cannot proceed without the other. A different dynamic it seems to me is at work in the critique of new sexuality studies.
The agony of my feelings allowed me no respite; no incident occurred from which my rage and misery could not extract its food.
Sometimes small incidents, rather than glorious exploits, give us the best evidence of character. So, as portrait painters are more exact in doing the face, where the character is revealed, than the rest of the body, I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks of the souls of men.
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