The quote "The tree that would grow to heaven must send its roots to hell." is famous quote attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist.
“No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.”
Understanding & Collaboration Between Religions (2006)
“Grow as a palm-tree on God's Mount Zion; howbeit shaken with winds, yet the root is fast.”
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 294.
“A Race without the knowledge of its history is like a tree without roots.”
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
“A tree cannot grow in its parents’ shadows.”
Source: Parable of the Sower (1993), Chapter 7 (p. 82)
i.254-255
Paradise Lost (1667)
Variant: The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.
Source: Paradise Lost: Books 1-2
The Descent of the Dove (1939), Ch. 5
