Honoring Our Roots: Quotes About Trees

I've held a deep relationship with trees since my father and grandfather planted a tree in the back yard of our house in Brampton on the day I was born. Fortunately it grew faster than I did, and eventually, much to my mother's dismay, I was able to climb high into its branches; swaying in the breeze, looking over the neighbourhood with great joy. Eventually I volunteered to cut my dear friend down when it started posing an imminent threat to the house it towered over. Through the course of my life I've learned profound lessons from forests and ecosystems; I've sat quietly, listening, smelling, seeing the vastness and bounty of my surroundings.

As Albert Einstein said, “Look deep into nature, and then you will start to understand everything better.”

The following are some quotes about trees that ring true for me; I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. If you have a favourite quote about trees and would like to share it, please send me an email: zentree369@gmail.com , and I will add it to this growing list.

"Trees exhale for us so that we can inhale them to stay alive. Can we ever forget that? Let us love trees with every breath we take until we perish."

― Munia Khan

"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mount Tremblanc

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful. ~ Alice Walker

"I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles." 

— Anne Frank

“Learn character from trees, values from roots, and change from leaves.” 

— Tasneern Harneed

The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness.”

— John Muir

“To really feel a forest canopy, we must use different senses. And often the most useful one is the sense of imagination.”

— Joan Maloof

“The one who plants trees knowing that he or she will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.”

— Rabindranath Tagore

“Happiness is like a tree going into the sky; and sadness is like the roots going down into the wombs of the earth. Both are needed.”

— Osho

“Together we can preserve the forest, securing this immense treasure for the future of all these our children.” 

— Chico Mendes

“Trees give peace to the souls of men.”

― Nora Waln

"A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people."

― Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a shovel.”

― Aldo Leopold

“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.”

― Chris Maser

The Long Trail, Upstate NY