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.
One problem with globalisation is that bad ideas seem to travel faster than good ones; first there was smearing tomato ketchup on everything; then drinking sugar-soaked cocktails ('Cosmo'-politanism) instead of our traditional whisky soda, and now this idea that we should abandon the poor to their fate in order to protect their dignity.
Conventional measures of mental ability, such as intelligence tests and scholarship, show some of the very highest records belong to INFP and INFJ types, who relegate thinking to last place or next to last. The preference for thinking appears to have far less intellectual effect than the preference for intuition, even in some technical fields, such as scientific research, where its influence was expected to be most important.
A tear that trembles for a little while _x000D_ Upon the trembling eyelid, till the world _x000D_ Wavers within its circle like a dream, _x000D_ Holds more of meaning in its narrow orb _x000D_ Than all the distant landscape that it blurs.
The only way into truth is through one's own annihilation; through dwelling a long time in a state of extreme and total humiliation.
Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.
But yet I'll make assurance double sure, and take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live.
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