“Heart of oak are our ships,
Heart of oak are our men;
We always are ready.”

“Under oak, ash and thorn
My soul was born.
Under thorn, oak and ash
My body bent to the lash.
Under ash, thorn and oak
My heart broke.
Under oak, ash and thorn all three
I was nailed to a tree.”

Elinor Wylie (1885–1928) American poet

“An oak tree is an oak tree. That is all it has to do. If an oak tree is less than an oak tree, then we are all in trouble.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

“As to our garden and yard, we have all the woods. And the wilderness is our only cloister, for our house is like an oak tree planted therein.”

Théodore Guérin (1798–1856) Catholic saint and nun from France

“It seems idolatry with some excuse,
When our forefather Druids in their oaks
Imagined sanctity.”

William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist

“After all, what is every man? A horde of ghosts – like a Chinese nest of boxes – oaks that were acorns that were oaks. Death lies behind us, not in front – in our ancestors, back and back until…”

Walter de la Mare (1873–1956) English poet and fiction writer

“A song to the oak, the brave old oak,
Who hath ruled in the greenwood long!”

Henry Fothergill Chorley (1808–1872) English literary, art and music critic and editor

“At certain epochs of history, there are pleiades of great men; at other epochs, there are pleiades of vagabonds. But do not confound the epoch, the moment of Louis Bonaparte, with the 19th century: the toadstool sprouts at the foot of the oak, but it is not the oak.”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

“Remember, our hearts are one. Even when we are at war with each other, our hearts are always beating in unison.”

Yoko Ono (1933) Japanese artist, author, and peace activist

““Plants,” said he, “show no sign of interesting themselves in human affairs. We shall never get a rose to understand that five times seven are thirty-five, and there is no use in talking to an oak about fluctuations in the price of stocks. Hence we say that the oak and the rose are unintelligent, and on finding that they do not understand our business conclude that they do not understand their own. But what can a creature who talks in this way know about intelligence? Which shows greater signs of intelligence? He, or the rose and oak?”

Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist