"That one plant should be sown and another be produced cannot happen; whatever seed is sown, a plant of that kind even comes forth"
About this Quote
The specific intent is moral realism: actions have consequences that match their nature. Not always instantly, not always in ways the ego finds satisfying, but with a stubborn coherence. The subtext is aimed at self-deception. People want to sow cruelty and harvest peace, sow vanity and harvest honor, sow exploitation and harvest blessing. Nanak denies the fantasy of conversion-by-appearance: you can’t cosplay virtue and expect the world (or the divine order) to be fooled.
Context matters. Nanak’s early Sikh teaching emerged in Punjab amid Hindu and Islamic traditions, and amid social arrangements that treated spirituality as a managed economy of purity and privilege. This line resists that economy. It levels the field: what counts is not your label, but your practice; not your claims, but your cultivation.
It also works rhetorically because it’s non-mystical on the surface. The sentence doesn’t argue; it observes. By sounding like common sense, it sneaks a radical ethic into everyday life: if you want different fruit, change the seed.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Nanak, Guru. (2026, January 15). That one plant should be sown and another be produced cannot happen; whatever seed is sown, a plant of that kind even comes forth. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/that-one-plant-should-be-sown-and-another-be-169942/
Chicago Style
Nanak, Guru. "That one plant should be sown and another be produced cannot happen; whatever seed is sown, a plant of that kind even comes forth." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/that-one-plant-should-be-sown-and-another-be-169942/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"That one plant should be sown and another be produced cannot happen; whatever seed is sown, a plant of that kind even comes forth." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/that-one-plant-should-be-sown-and-another-be-169942/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.







