Quotes about trees

„If I am going to be drowned — if I am going to be drowned — if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods, who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?“

—  Stephen Crane, book The Open Boat

Pt. VI
The Open Boat (1894)
Source: The Open Boat and Other Stories

„The importance of oaks both in the economy and in the forest ecosystem is big, but the exceptional part is that this tree plays in the old beliefs and legends.“

—  Marek Żukow-Karczewski Polish historian, journalist and opinion journalist 1961

Oak - the king of the Polish trees, "Aura" 9, 1988-09, p. 20-21. http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.agro-72dccf88-5430-4d92-8617-9f550865d9b9?q=1dac2329-67be-4b51-b5b3-4554b1ebe953$15&qt=IN_PAGE

„Each flower her son, and every tree her daughter.“

—  Vita Sackville-West English writer and gardener 1892 - 1962

"The Island", in Bulletin of the Garden Club of America (1929), p. 1, also in Collected Poems (1934), p. 54
Context: She walks among the loveliness she made,
Between the apple-blossom and the water—
She walks among the patterned pied brocade,
Each flower her son, and every tree her daughter.

„There's nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend.“

—  Bob Ross American painter, art instructor, and television host 1942 - 1995

„Jnana marga is like Ramphal. Bhakthi marga is like Sitaphal (custart apple), easy to deal with and very sweet. The pulp of Ramphal is inside and difficult to get at. Ramphal should ripen on the tree and plucked ripe, If it falls down it is spoilt. So if a Jnani falls, he is ruined. Even for a Jnani there is the danger of a fall, i. e., by a little negligence or carelessness.“

—  Sai Baba of Shirdi Hindu and muslim saint 1835 - 1918

Sources

„A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.“

—  William Blake English Romantic poet and artist 1757 - 1827

„Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.“

—  Molière French playwright and actor 1622 - 1673

„If the Olive Trees knew the hands that planted them, Their Oil would become Tears.“

—  Mahmoud Darwich Palestinian writer 1941 - 2008

„I must see new things and investigate them. I want to taste dark water and see crackling trees and wild winds.“

—  Egon Schiele austrian painter 1890 - 1918

„You can't hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree.“

—  Malcolm X American human rights activist 1925 - 1965

„Spring: trees flying up to their birds“

—  Paul Celan Romanian poet and translator 1920 - 1970

„I've been 15 years in the nut ward, for trying to stop the trees from being cut down, from trying to rearrange the lifestyle of a bunch of people who don't want to change. But they're gonna change because a cold wind is blowing. You're gonna change or else there's going to be no life left on the planet Earth.“

—  Charles Manson American criminal and musician 1934 - 2017

Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJHq2aN9tYE by Penny Daniels (1989)

„If I were a tree, I would have no reason to love a human.“

—  Maggie Stiefvater American writer 1981

The Raven Cycle Series, The Raven Boys (2012)

„Steadfastness in believing doth not exclude all temptations from without. When we say a tree is firmly rooted, we do not say the wind never blows upon it.“

—  John Owen English theologian 1616 - 1683

„There is something about spending Christmas alone, naked, sitting by the Christmas tree gripping a shotgun, that lets you know your life is spinning dangerously outta control.“

—  Nikki Sixx American musician 1958

Source: The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star

„It is extraordinary that nobody nowadays under the stress of great troubles is turned into stone or a bird or a tree or some inanimate object; they used to undergo such metamorphoses in ancient times (or so they say), though whether that is myth or a true story I know not. Maybe it would be better to change one's nature into something that lacks all feeling, rather than be so sensitive to evil. Had that been possible, these calamities would in all probability have turned me to stone“

—  Anna Comnena, book Alexiad

The Alexiad, Preface

„The black earth drinks, in turn
The trees drink up the earth.
The sea the torrents drinks, the sun the sea,
And the moon drinks the sun.
Why, comrades, do ye flout me,
If I, too, wish to drink?“

—  Anacreon Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns -570 - -485 BC

Odes, 21.

„I want to do with you what spring does with cherry trees.“

—  Pablo Neruda, book Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

Quiero hacer contigo lo que la primavera hace con los cerezos.
"Every Day You Play" (Juegas Todos las Días), XIV, p. 35.
Variant: I want
To do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.
Source: Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Canción Desesperada (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair) (1924)

„I wish people were all trees and I think I could enjoy them then.“

—  Georgia O'Keeffe American artist 1887 - 1986