dead end

ghost

street

dad joke

The longer a dead-end, the more it looks like a road.

is not the end --- the man standing at the dead end need only turn around to see the road go on.

The man standing at the dead end need only turn around to see the road go on.

is not worthless. When we encounter a dead end, we come to know much more about the woods, even if we have never gotten out of them.

Heidegger titles one collection of his essays Holzwege (Woodpaths). In German, to be on a Holzweg is to be on a dead-end trail. But dead ends are not worthless. If we follow a path to its end and are forced to return, we are different, even wiser, than we were before we took this path. We have come to know the lay of the land and our own capacities. We know much more about the woods, even if we have never gotten out of them.

dead end, n.All

dead end