quotations about trees
To dwellers in a wood, almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature.
THOMAS HARDY
Under the Greenwood Tree
The trees are green in Maxwell Square,
And year by year they shed their leaves
To make a softer carpet where
The children shout on Summer eves;
And year by year the change goes on
Through which the world's great age hath gone.
FRANCIS REGINALD STATHAM
"Maxwell Square (East London)", Poems and Sonnets
The most beautiful thing about a tree is what you do with it after you cut it down.
RUSH LIMBAUGH
"35 Undeniable Truths of Life"
What can be more beautiful than the trees? Their lofty trunks, august in their simplicity, asserting, to the most inexperienced eye, their infinite superiority over the imitative pillars of man's pride.
W. HOWITT
"The Beauty of Trees", Lessons in Modern Farming, Or, Agriculture for Schools
The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.
JOHN MUIR
John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir
Two Trees
A portion of your soul has been
entwined with mine
A gentle kind of togetherness, while
separately we stand.
As two trees deeply rooted in
separate plots of ground,
While their topmost branches
come together,
Forming a miracle of lace
against the heavens
JANET MILLS
The Power of a Woman
The trees are birds, beasts and man
striving interspecies
between animal and moss.
Like the cursed sexes
seeking union if they can,
they lift up: send love through space:
and, standing, move and speak.
They know no loss.
JESSE BIER
"Tropic Trees", Don't Tell Me Trees Don't Talk and Other Poems
Even though there is little nutrition or energy in wood, there is some -- and there are plenty of organisms that will try and use it. But trees are not defenceless, and can fight back with physical barriers or even chemical warfare. When one tree is attacked by these destructive forces, individuals may even signal to other trees to be aware and prepare their own defences to fight off death and decay.
CHRIS BRACK
"Where the old things are: Australia's most ancient trees", Phys Org, April 18, 2017
When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
MAYA ANGELOU
"When Great Trees Fall"
As the twig is bent the tree is inclined.
GEORGE ADE
"The Fable of the Kid Who Shifted His Ideal", Fables in Slang
You are a poet, sycamore,
A minor poet.
You are not much good in a practical world;
You shed your ragged leaves early, and clutter up the landscape.
But you are lovely on winter evenings
Against the afterglow--
Bare and pale and a little disdainful,
But yourself.
KARLE WILSON BAKER
"Temperate Tribute", Burning Bush
A tree stands in the seasons of time. Between generations. Basks in the reverberations of life and death. Withstands the storms from which we shelter. This tree did not bend. Or break. Or sway. Trees touch the sky while simultaneously rooted in earth. Remind us by their mere presence of their worth. Kiss our eyes with breathless simplicity. Become rooted in our lives as they silently inch taller and we grow older.
COLUMNIST S
"A dying tree that's still rich in memories", Chicago Sun Times, April 28, 2017
I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all.
OGDEN NASH
Song of the Open Road