40 Famous Quotes About Trees, With Their Real Sources

Poets and writers on trees

“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.”

— Joyce Kilmer, Trees (1913)

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky. We fell them down and turn them into paper, that we may record our emptiness.”

— Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam (1926)

“Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.”

— Rabindranath Tagore, Fireflies (1928)

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth.”

— Hermann Hesse, Wandering (1920)

“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers.”

— Hermann Hesse, Wandering (1920)

“And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.”

— William Shakespeare, As You Like It

“Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.”

— William Wordsworth, The Tables Turned (1798)

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.”

— William Blake, letter to Rev. John Trusler (1799)

“He who plants a tree
Plants a hope.”

— Lucy Larcom, Plant a Tree

“I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.”

— Willa Cather, O Pioneers! (1913)

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”

— Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1923)

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, History (1841)

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.”

— Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)

“I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.”

— Dr. Seuss, The Lorax (1971)

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”

— Dr. Seuss, The Lorax (1971)

“And the tree was happy.”

— Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree (1964)

“When you cut down a tree, what you make from it should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down.”

— Richard Powers, The Overstory (2018)

Naturalists and environmental leaders

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

— John Muir, journal, 1890

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”

— John Muir, Steep Trails (1918)

“Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life.”

— John Muir, his handwritten note in a volume of Emerson's Prose Works

“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, The American Forests, The Atlantic (1897)

“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, founder of the Green Belt Movement

“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, letter to state governors (1937)

“In nature nothing exists alone.”

— Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962)

“Ecology is permanent economy.”

— Sunderlal Bahuguna, Chipko movement

“What do the forests bear? Soil, water and pure air.”

— Chipko movement song, Uttarakhand, 1970s

“Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

— Warren Buffett

“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”

— Nelson Henderson, quoted in Under Whose Shade (1986)

Read their stories: John Muir, Wangari Maathai, Sunderlal Bahuguna and the Chipko women of Uttarakhand.

From India: scriptures, dohe and the Bishnois

“माता भूमिः पुत्रो अहं पृथिव्याः।
The Earth is my mother, and I am her son.”

— Atharva Veda, 12.1.12

“दशपुत्रसमो द्रुमः।
One tree is equal to ten sons.”

— Matsya Purana

“अश्वत्थः सर्ववृक्षाणाम्।
Among all trees, I am the peepal.”

— Bhagavad Gita, 10.26

“वृक्ष कबहुँ नहिं फल भखै, नदी न संचै नीर।
Trees never eat their own fruit; rivers never hoard their water.”

— Kabir, doha

“तरुवर फल नहिं खात है, सरवर पियहिं न पान।
Trees do not eat their fruit, nor lakes drink their water.”

— Rahim, doha

“सिर साटे रूख रहे तो भी सस्तो जाण।
If a tree is saved at the cost of a head, count it cheap.”

— Amrita Devi Bishnoi, Khejarli, 1730

“The trees, like the longings of the earth, stand atiptoe to peep at the heaven.”

— Rabindranath Tagore, Fireflies (1928)

Amrita Devi Bishnoi and more than 360 Bishnois gave their lives in 1730 to stop khejri trees being felled: read her story. Saalumarada Thimmakka, who planted and raised 385 banyan trees along the road between Hulikal and Kudur in Karnataka, is another Indian icon: her story. More Hindi lines: tree plantation slogans in Hindi.

Proverbs and old sayings

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

— Proverb, often called Chinese; origin unknown

“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.”

— Proverb, often called Greek

“He plants trees to benefit another generation.”

— Caecilius Statius, quoted by Cicero, On Old Age (44 BC)

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season.”

— The Bible, Psalm 1:3

“The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

— The Bible, Revelation 22:2

Often misattributed

How to quote correctly

• Name the person and, if you can, the work: "Hermann Hesse, Wandering".
• If you can't find a source, write "proverb" or "often attributed to".
• Keep the exact words; shortened versions often lose the meaning (Gibran's line continues past "upon the sky").
• For original lines you can use without credit, see 100 tree plantation quotes and 100 slogans.

Sources: Gibran, Sand and Foam · The Quotable John Muir · Luther apple-tree quote. Last updated: October 2026.