“A tree reaches for the sky not because of the strength in its branches, but because of the depth of its roots. Growth is never immediate; it is the patience of unseen roots that allows greatness to flourish.”
Related quotes
Gottlob Frege (1848–1925) mathematician, logician, philosopher
Gottlob Frege, Montgomery Furth (1964). The Basic Laws of Arithmetic: Exposition of the System. p. 10
“No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.”
C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology
Marquis de Sade Philosophy in the Bedroom
Yet Another Effort, Frenchmen, If You Would Become Republicans
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
“A Race without the knowledge of its history is like a tree without roots.”
Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) Jamaica-born British political activist, Pan-Africanist, orator, and entrepreneur
Though often attributed to Garvey, this statement first appears in Charles Siefert's 1938 pamphlet, The Negro's or Ethiopian's Contribution to Art.
Misattributed
“The tree that would grow to heaven must send its roots to hell.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi
"The Holy Dimension", p. 337
Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays (1997)
Context: Reason is not the measure of all things, not the all-inclusive power in the inner life of man. The powers of will and emotion, the realm of the subconscious lie beyond the scope of knowledge. The rush of reason is an effort of limited strength.
Faith is not the miniature of thinking but its model, not its shadow but its root. It is a spiritual force in man, not dealing with the given, concrete limited, but directed upon the transcendent. It is the spring of our creative actions.
