“If in the present work I have dwelt at some length on the worship of trees, it is not, I trust, because I exaggerate its importance in the history of religion, still less because I would deduce from it a whole system of mythology; it is simply because I could not ignore the subject in attempting to explain the significance of a priest who bore the title of King Of the Wood, and one of whose titles to office was the plucking of a bough — the Golden Bough”

from a tree in the sacred grove.
Preface, 1 Brick Court Temple, London, June 1922.
The Golden Bough (1890)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If in the present work I have dwelt at some length on the worship of trees, it is not, I trust, because I exaggerate it…" by James Frazer?

James Frazer50

Scottish social anthropologist 1854–1941

Related quotes

“The temple of the sylvan goddess, indeed, has vanished, and the King of the Wood no longer stands sentinel over the Golden Bough.”

James Frazer book The Golden Bough

Source: The Golden Bough (1890), Chapter 69, Farewell to Nemi.

“I am like a tree,
From my top boughs I can see
The footprints that led up to me.”

R.S. Thomas (1913–2000) Welsh poet

"Here"
Tares (1961)

“No one could have less faith in the absolute and definitive importance of the work created by man, because I believe that this world is nothing but a dream…”

Gustave Moreau (1826–1898) French painter

Source: Gustave Moreau (1972), p. 62

“The title that has consecrated this Alter is the Marriage of Souls, and the Golden thread that tyes the hearts of all the world; I tell you, Madam, Freindshipp is beyond all relations of flesh and blood, because it is less materiall.”

John Evelyn (1620–1706) writer, gardener and diarist

The Life of Mrs. Godolphin (London: William Pickering, 1847) pp. 20-21
Often misquoted as "Friendship is the golden thread that ties the heart of all the world."

“But you’re everything I want. Remember that. I love you, Lia. Not a title. And not because a piece of paper says I should. Because I do.”

Mary E. Pearson (1955) young-adult fiction writer

Source: The Heart of Betrayal

“Amice, be so good, if it is not too late, to scrape the title 'l'Aprês-Midi' ['Afternoon', title of the work submitted for the exhibition] and simply put on it 'Paysage', for the simple reason.... because I chose the moment [in the work] that the sun starts to color and (sic) because there is vapor - many people will wrongly see it as a 'morning'. Mauve will send another aquarelle..”

Paul Gabriël (1828–1903) painter (1828-1903)

translation from the Dutch original: Fons Heijnsbroek <br class="br">version in original Dutch / citaat van Paul Gabriël, in Nederlands: Amice, Wees zoo goed, indien het niet te laat is, de titel 'l'Aprês-Midi' ['Namiddag' titel van een ingezonden werk voor een expositie] uit te schrabben en eenvoudig maar Paysage te zetten om den eenvoudige reden.. ..daar ik het moment genomen heb [in het werkje] dat de zon begint te kleuren en (sic) doordien er damp is - door velen voor een morgen aangezien zal worden. Mauve zal een anderen aquarelle zenden.. <br class="br">Quote of Gabriël, in his letter to Henry Hymans (Secr. de Societé des Aquarellistes Bruxelles, from Schaerbeek 14 April, 1867; taken from an excerpt in the Collection RKD: Letters, Manuscripts and small Archives https://rkd.nl/explore/excerpts/158, The Hague <br class="br">1860's + 1870's