Poetry and Reflection
"And this our life, exempt from
public haunt finds tongues
in trees,
books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything."
William Shakespeare
"In the depths of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer"
Albert Camus
The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its live activity; it offers protection to all beings offering shade even to those who destroy it."
Buddha
No Time to Stand and Stare
"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare."
W.H. Davies
"If you are thinking a year ahead, sow a seed.
If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree."
Chinese poet, 500 BC
"He who plants a tree loves others beside himself."
English proverb
"The best friend on Earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically,
we have one of the greatest resources of the Earth."
Frank Lloyd Wright
"They are beautiful in their peace; they are wise in their silence. They will stand after we are dust.
They teach us, and we tend them."
Galeain ip Altiem MacDunelmor
"Though a tree grows so high, the falling leaves return to the root. "
Malay proverb
"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."
Greek proverb
"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."
Martin Luther
"The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!'"
John F. Kennedy
"Trees are poems that Earth writes upon the sky. We fell them down and turn them into paper, that we may record our emptiness."
Kahlil Gibran
"If what I say resonates with you, it is merely because we are both branches on the same tree."
W. B. Yeats
"A tree is our most intimate contact with nature."
George Nakashima, woodworker
"A tree uses what comes its way to nurture itself. By sinking its roots deeply into the earth, by accepting the rain that flows towards it, by reaching out to the sun, the tree perfects its character and becomes great. ... Absorb, absorb, absorb. That is the secret of the tree."
Deng Ming-Dao, Everyday Tao
"Plant trees. They give us two of the most crucial elements for our survival: oxygen and books. "
A. Whitney Brown
"Each generation takes the Earth as trustees. We ought to bequeath to posterity as many forests and
orchards as we have exhausted and consumed. "
J. Sterling Morton
"To me, nature is sacred; trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals."
Mikhail Gorbachev
"God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools. "
John Muir
"People who will not sustain trees will soon live in a world which cannot sustain people. "
Bryce Nelson
