--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A human being sheds its leaves like a…" description: "\"A human being sheds its leaves like a tree. Sickness prunes it down; and it no longer offers the same silhouette to the eyes which loved it, to the peo..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a7/jules-de-goncourt-37962_comfort_a-human-being-sheds-its-leaves-like-a-tr_1137608.jpg" --- # A human being sheds its leaves like a tree. Sickness… ![“A human being sheds its leaves like a tree. Sickness prunes it down; and it no longer offers the same silhouette to the eyes which loved it, to the people to whom it afforded shade and comfort.” quote by Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a7/jules-de-goncourt-37962_comfort_a-human-being-sheds-its-leaves-like-a-tr_1137608.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a7/jules-de-goncourt-37962_comfort_a-human-being-sheds-its-leaves-like-a-tr_1137608.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a7/jules-de-goncourt-37962_comfort_a-human-being-sheds-its-leaves-like-a-tr_1137608.jpg) > “A human being sheds its leaves like a tree. Sickness prunes it down; and it no longer offers the same silhouette to the eyes which loved it, to the people to whom it afforded shade and comfort.” [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human life mirrors a tree shedding leaves when ill, losing its familiar shape to those who once cherished it. **In simple terms:** People change when sick, losing their old selves to loved ones. Key Takeaway Accept change and loss as natural parts of life. Themes mortality change loss Mood somber reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - counseling sessions - grief support groups - personal reflection Key Concepts transience identity Questions to Reflect On - How does illness reshape personal identity? - What comforts can we offer to those who feel altered? A Different Perspective The metaphor may oversimplify complex illness experiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Comfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comfort/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Shade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shade/) [Sickness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sickness/) [Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tree/) [Trees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trees/) ## Related quotes > [“leaves were like lace, criss-crossing blackly over tangles of dead branches. 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Leaves aswirl with gulls made wild by winter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giorgos-seferis/leaves-like-rusty-tin-for-the-desolate-mind-that-has-seen-the-end-the/) [Giorgos Seferis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giorgos-seferis/) > [Love when it comes, its easy. But when it leaves, its like dying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-donghae/love-when-it-comes-its-easy-but-when-it-leaves-its-like-dying/) [Lee Donghae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-donghae/) > [Harvard takes perfectly good plums as students, and turns them into prunes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-lloyd-wright/harvard-takes-perfectly-good-plums-as-students-and-turns-them-into/) [Frank Lloyd Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-lloyd-wright/) > [I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes. I slept on the ground in the light of the moon. On the edge of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-guthrie/i-worked-in-your-orchards-of-peaches-and-prunes-i-slept-on-the-ground/) [Woody Guthrie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-guthrie/) > [The more you prune a plant, the more it grows. So too the more you seek to annihilate the ego, the more it will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/the-more-you-prune-a-plant-the-more-it-grows-so-too-the-more-you-seek/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) ## More by Jules de Goncourt > [Only a woman of the world is a woman; the rest are females.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/only-a-woman-of-the-world-is-a-woman-the-rest-are-females/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [The real connoisseurs in art are those who make people accept as beautiful something everybody used to consider ugly, by revealing and resuscitating the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/the-real-connoisseurs-in-art-are-those-who-make-people-accept-as/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [ A sign of the times: there are no longer any chairs in the bookshops along the embankments. \[Noël\] France was the last bookseller who… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/a-sign-of-the-times-there-are-no-longer-any-chairs-in-the-bookshops/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [Never speak of yourself to others; make them talk about themselves instead; therein lies the whole art of pleasing. Everybody knows it, and everyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/never-speak-of-yourself-to-others-make-them-talk-about-themselves/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [When incredulity becomes a faith, it is less rational than a religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/when-incredulity-becomes-a-faith-it-is-less-rational-than-a-religion/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [History is a novel which did take place; a novel is history that could take place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/history-is-a-novel-which-did-take-place-a-novel-is-history-that-could/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [There are two infinities in this world: God up above, and down below, human baseness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/there-are-two-infinities-in-this-world-god-up-above-and-down-below/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [Time cures one of everything-even of living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/time-cures-one-of-everything-even-of-living/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [There are moments when, faced with our lack of success, I wonder whether we are failures, proud but impotent. One thing reassures me as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/there-are-moments-when-faced-with-our-lack-of-success-i-wonder/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [After reading Edgar Allan Poe. Something the critics have not noticed: a new literary world pointing to the literature of the 20th Century. Scientific…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/after-reading-edgar-allan-poe-something-the-critics-have-not-noticed/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) > [Antiquity was perhaps created to provide professors with their bread and butter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-de-goncourt/antiquity-was-perhaps-created-to-provide-professors-with-their-bread/) [Jules de Goncourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) [Explore all 12 Jules de Goncourt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-de-goncourt/) ## More Comfort quotes > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [Don't take too much comfort in the fact that you're successful today because tomorrow could bring failure. There's no surety in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-savage/don-t-take-too-much-comfort-in-the-fact-that-you-re-successful-today/) [Michael Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-savage/) > [For many, the call to be a Christian can seem demanding, even overwhelming. But we need not be afraid or feel inadequate. The Savior…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-d-hales/for-many-the-call-to-be-a-christian-can-seem-demanding-even/) [Robert D. Hales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-d-hales/) > [This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/this-is-no-time-for-ease-and-comfort-it-is-time-to-dare-and-endure/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [There is a comfort in rituals, and rituals provide a framework for stability when you are trying to find answers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-norville/there-is-a-comfort-in-rituals-and-rituals-provide-a-framework-for/) [Deborah Norville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-norville/) > [Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/now-i-am-in-the-place-i-call-this-wide-wide-heaven-because-it/) [Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/) > [“When you get lost in a really strange place, nothing is more comforting than found your friend whom you trust and can show the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/when-you-get-lost-in-a-really-strange-place-nothing-is-more/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) > [Comfort food is really anything you want at that time. That said, I really love Naple-style pizza.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-zakarian/comfort-food-is-really-anything-you-want-at-that-time-that-said-i/) [Geoffrey Zakarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-zakarian/) > [I actually like getting out of my comfort zone. It shakes me up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-sheehy/i-actually-like-getting-out-of-my-comfort-zone-it-shakes-me-up/) [Gail Sheehy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-sheehy/) > [A time will come when the science of destruction shall bend before the arts of peace; when the genius which multiplies our powers, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-arago/a-time-will-come-when-the-science-of-destruction-shall-bend-before/) [Francois Arago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-arago/) > [Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-leary/throughout-human-history-as-our-species-has-faced-the-frightening/) [Timothy Leary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-leary/) > [Worship is not about personality, temperament, personal limitations, church background, or comfort. It is about God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wimber/worship-is-not-about-personality-temperament-personal-limitations/) [John Wimber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wimber/) > [May God bless each of us in our calls to serve. May our faith strengthen as we serve in righteousness, faithfully keeping the commandments.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-tom-perry/may-god-bless-each-of-us-in-our-calls-to-serve-may-our-faith/) [L. Tom Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-tom-perry/) > [Maybe that was why she couldn't cry, she realized, staring dry-eyed at the ceiling. Because what was the point in crying when there was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/maybe-that-was-why-she-couldn-t-cry-she-realized-staring-dry-eyed-at/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [I think that comfort is underrated in a lot of ways.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-robinson/i-think-that-comfort-is-underrated-in-a-lot-of-ways/) [Phoebe Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-robinson/) [Browse all 4,542 Comfort quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comfort/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A human being sheds its leaves like a tree. 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