Over 100 great tree quotes:

1. What humans do over the next 50 years will determine the fate of all life on the planet.  Sir David Attenborough
2. Ancient trees are precious. There is little else on Earth that plays host to such a rich community of life within a single living organism.  Sir David Attenborough
3. October’s poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter.  Nova Bair
4. I have grown taller from walking with the tree.  Karle Wilson Baker
5. A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.  Basil
6. Of all man’s works of art, a cathedral is greatest. A vast and majestic tree is greater than that.  Henry Ward Beecher
7. You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.  St. Bernard
8. The care of the earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all, our most pleasing responsibility.  Wendell Berry
9. A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.  William Blake
10. The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.  William Blake
11. There is always an adventure waiting in the woods.  Katelyn S. Bolds
12. Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience.  Hal Borland
13. The future will either be green or not at all.  Bob Brown
14. Plant trees. They give us two of the most crucial elements for our survival: oxygen and books.  Whitney Brown
15. Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.  Warren Buffett
16. Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise.  George Washington Carver
17. When we walk into a grove of trees or under an open sky the magic of nature takes over and the heaviness of life lifts a little.  Natassia Cassinero
18. I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.  Willa Cather
19. A tree is beautiful, but what’s more, it has a right to life; like water, the sun and the stars, it is essential. Life on earth is inconceivable without trees.  Anton Chekhov
20. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.  Chinese Proverb
21. In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.  Paolo Coelho
22. I found far more answers in the woods than I ever did in the city.  Mary Davis
23. Trees are humanity’s greatest ally in the fight against climate change.  Leo DiCaprio
24. That each day I may walk unceasingly on the banks of my water, that my soul may repose on the branches of the trees which I planted, that I may refresh myself under the shadow of my sycamore.  Egyptian tomb inscription
25. Look deep into nature, and then you will start to understand everything better.  Albert Einstein
26. The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.  Ralph Waldo Emerson
27. The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more.  Ralph Waldo Emerson
28. Who leaves the pine-tree, leaves his friend, unnerves his strength, invites his end.  Ralph Waldo Emerson
29. Trees are the lungs of the earth, purifying the air and giving fresh oxygen.  Tim Fargo
30. The only time I can really relax is up a tree or somewhere outside. I love being outside.  Tom Felton
31. It is difficult to realize how great a part of all that is cheerful and delightful in the recollections of our own life is associated with trees.  Wilson Flagg
32. What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?  E.M. Forster
33. Trees are as close to immortality as the rest of us ever come.  Karen Joy Fowler
34. I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.  Anne Frank
35. He that plants trees, loves others besides himself.  Thomas Fuller
36. Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.  Kahlil Gabran
37. I’ve got to be by trees, otherwise I get claustrophobic.  Liam Gallagher
38. 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.  Mahatma Gandhi
39. If I thought I was going to die tomorrow, I should nevertheless plant a tree today.  Stephen Girard
40. Finland is officially the world’s happiest country. It is also 75 per cent forest. I believe these facts are related.  Matt Haig
41. If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.  Jack Handey
42. Learn character from trees, values from roots, and change from leaves.  Tasneern Harneed
43. Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth.  Hermann Hesse
44. Trees are like the veins of our planet, carrying the life blood of the air, water and wildlife around it.  Julia Hill
45. A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.  Greek Proverb
46. Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being.  Victor Hugo
47. There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations.  Washington Irving
48. When you plant a tree, you bring nature a step closer to your home.  Michael Bassey Johnson
49. I’m planting a tree to teach me to gather strength from my deepest roots.  Andrea Koehle Jones
50. May my life be like a great hospitable tree, and may weary wanderers find in me a rest.  John Henry Jowett
51. We are sinful not only because we have eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, but also because we have not yet eaten of the Tree of Life. The state in which we are is sinful, irrespective of guilt.  Franz Kafka
52. I said to the almond tree, ‘Friend, speak to me of God,’ and the almond tree blossomed.  Nikos Kazantzakis
53. 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
54. He who plants a tree plants hope.  Lucy Larcom
55. We abuse the land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.  Aldo Leopold
56. 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
57. Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.  Abraham Lincoln
58. If a tree dies, plant another in its place. Carolus Linnaeu
59. Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.  Martin Luther
60. For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.  Martin Luther
61. We need to protect our forests to protect all of life.  Samantha Lynch
62. Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven’t done a thing. You are just talking.  Wangari Maathai
63. That’s the way I do things when I want to celebrate, I always plant a tree.  Wangari Maathai
64. The trees will tell their secrets to those that tune in.  Steven Magee
65. To be without trees would, in the most literal way, to be without our roots.  Richard Mabey
66. To really feel a forest canopy, we must use different senses. And often the most useful one is the sense of imagination.  Joan Maloof
67. We can learn a lot from trees: they’re always grounded but never stop reaching heavenward.  Everett Mamor
68. The only thing that ultimately matters is to eat an ice-cream cone, play a slide trombone, plant a small tree, good God, now you’re free. Ray Manzarek (The Doors)
69. 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
70. Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time.  Katrina Mayer
71. Together we can preserve the forest, securing this immense treasure for the future of all these our children.  Chico Mendes
72. On the last day of the world I would want to plant a tree.  W.S. Merwin
73. In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.  John Muir
74. 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
75. When one plants a tree they plant themselves. Every root is an anchor, over which one rests with grateful interests, and becomes sufficiently calm to feel the joy of living.  John Muir
76. People who will not sustain trees will soon live in a world that will not sustain people.  Bryce Nelson
77. What did the tree learn from the earth to be able to talk with the sky?  Pablo Neruda
78. Our lasting legacy lies not in the towering stone structures, but in the forests we nurture, the oceans we safeguard, and the skies we keep pure.  Aloo Denish Obiero
79. The footprint of progress must never trample upon the footprint of nature. And so human advancement must never overshadow or destroy nature upon which all life depends.  Aloo Denish Obiero
80. When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.  Alanis Obomsawin
81. Reversing deforestation is complicated; planting a tree is simple. Martin O’Malley
82. Trees are the best monuments that a man can erect to his own memory. They speak his praises without flattery, and they are blessings to children yet unborn. Lord Orrery
83. 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
84. To be able to walk under the branches of a tree that you have planted is really to feel you have arrived with your garden. So far we are on the way: we can now stand beside ours. Mirabel Osler
85. To plant trees is to give body and life to one’s dreams of a better world. Russell Page
86. Storms make trees take deeper roots.  Dolly Parton
87. Hope is the tree that holds the world. Pliny
88. Tree planting is always a utopian enterprise, it seems to me, a wager on a future the planter doesn’t necessarily expect to witness. Michael Pollan
89. We can learn a lot from the forests, regrowth, change, and beauty.  Catherine Pulsifer
90. And see the peaceful trees extend their myriad leaves in leisured dance, they bear the weight of sky and cloud upon the fountain of their veins. Kathleen Raine
91. If you love a tree you will be more beautiful than before. Amit Ray
92. You may not plant millions of trees but if you can take care one single tree with love and care, that will make you great.  Amit Ray
93. I feel a great regard for trees; they represent age and beauty and the miracles of life and growth. Louise Dickinson Rich
94. To exist as a nation, to prosper as a state, to live as a people, we must have trees. Theodore Roosevelt
95. 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
96. A grove of giant redwoods or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great or beautiful cathedral.  Theodore Roosevelt
97. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased; and not impaired in value. Theodore Roosevelt
98. A tree against the sky possesses the same interest, the same character, the same expression as the figure of a human. Georges Rouault
99. This oak tree and me, we’re made of the same stuff. Carl Sagan
100. Advice from a tree, stand tall and proud, sink your roots into the earth. Be content with your natural beauty, go out on a limb, drink plenty of water, remember your roots and enjoy the view. Ilan Shmia
101. Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf. Albert Schweitzer
102. One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. William Shakespeare
     There is no Wi-Fi in the forest, but I promise you will find a better connection. Ralph Smart
103. A man doesn’t plant a tree for himself. He plants it for posterity. Alexander Smith
104. Nature is not a place to visit, it is home. Gary Snyder
105. The trees are God’s great alphabet: With them He writes in shining green across the world His thoughts serene. Leonora Speyer
106. Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. Robert Louis Stevenson
107. It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.  Robert Louis Stevenson
108. 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 life and activity; it affords protection to all beings. Buddhist Sutra
109. Change is never easy and it often creates discord. But when people come together for the good of humanity and the earth, we can accomplish great things. David Suzuki
110. 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
111. Because they are primeval, because they outlive us, because they are fixed, trees seem to emanate a sense of permanence. Kim Taplin
112. When trees burn, they leave the smell of heartbreak in the air. Jodi Thomas
113. It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man. Henry David Thoreau
114. I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.  Henry David Thoreau
115. When trees are treated as a commodity, cutting them down is good for business. When people are a commodity, enslaving them, exploiting them and underpaying them is good for business. When everything is a commodity, the landscape grows barren, and the earth turns to dust.  Clifford Thurlow
116. Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them. Bill Vaughan
117. In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful. Alice Walker
118. Trees give peace to the souls of men.  Nora Waln
119. I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want. Andy Warhol
120. A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible. Welsh Proverb
121. This solitary Tree! a living thing produced too slowly ever to decay; of form and aspect too magnificent to be destroyed. William Wordsworth
122. 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 on the earth. Frank Lloyd Wright
123. If what I say resonates with you, it is merely because we are both branches on the same tree. W. B. Yeats