31 Quotes About Trees: A Touch of Nature

quotes about trees

Saying that trees are vital and that without them life as we know it would not exist is an understatement. In addition to giving you life, trees are basically a portal of your past, present, and future. To honor these magnificent plants, I’ve come up with 31 quotes about trees that are guaranteed to blow you away.

If nothing else, these quotes will at least show you why you have to cherish trees, and just how important they are. But I hope they inspire you to make a change, get off your chair, and plant a couple of trees yourself. That’s what they did for me, at least.

31 Touching Quotes About Trees That Transcend Time

Quotes About Trees to Inspire You to Plant One (Or a Hundred) Yourself

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

2. “To exist as a nation, to prosper as a state, to live as a people, we must have trees.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

3. “The planting of a tree, especially one of the long-living hardwood trees, is a gift which you can make to posterity at almost no cost and with almost no trouble, and if the tree takes root it will far outlive the visible effect of any of your other actions, good or evil.” ― George Orwell

4. “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

5. “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.” ― Chinese proverb

6. “Reversing deforestation is complicated; planting a tree is simple.” ― Martin O’Malley

7. “If a tree dies, plant another in its place.” ― Carolus Linnaeus

8. “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

9. “He that plants trees loves others besides himself.” ― Thomas Fuller

Spiritual Quotes About Trees That Show How Deeply You Are Connected to Them

10. “A tree is our most intimate contact with nature.” ― George Nakashima

11. “But down deep, at the molecular heart of life, we’re essentially identical to trees.” — Carl Sagan

12. “Trees do not preach learning and precepts. They preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.” ― Herman Hesse

13. “The symbolism ― and the substantive significance ― of planting a tree has universal power in every culture and every society on Earth, and it is a way for individual men, women, and children to participate in creating solutions for the environmental crisis.” ― Al Gore

Quotes About Trees That Serve as Excellent Life Lessons

14. “Learn character from trees, values from roots, and change from leaves.” ― Tasneem Hameed

15. “Be like a tree. The tree gives shade even to him who cuts off its boughs.” ― Sri Chaitanya

16. “A tree has roots in the soil yet reaches to the sky. It tells us that, in order to aspire, we need to be grounded, and that no matter how high we go, it is from our roots that we draw sustenance.” ― Wangari Maathai

17. “People who will not sustain trees will soon live in a world that will not sustain people.” ― Bryce Nelson

18. “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

19. “In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.” ― Paulo Coelho

20. “We have nothing to fear and a great deal to learn from trees, that vigorous and pacific tribe which, without stint, produces strengthening essences for us, soothing balms, and in whose gracious company we spend so many cool, silent, and intimate hours.” ― Marcel Proust

Beautiful Quotes About Trees That Honor All of Their Grace and Glory

21. “Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.” — Kahlil Gibran

22. “The best friend on Еarth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the Еarth.” ― Frank Lloyd Wright

23. “Love is like a tree; it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being.” ― Victor Hugo

24. “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

25. “How could you not be hopeful if you’ve got a tree around?” ― Ross Spears

26. “Trees exhale for us so that we can inhale them to stay alive. How can we ever forget that? Let us love trees with every breath we take until we perish.” ― Munia Khan

27. “Between every two pine trees, there is a door leading to a new way of life.” ― John Muir

28. “All of our wisdom is stored in the trees.” ― Santosh Kalwar

29. “Trees are the Еarth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.” ― Rabindranath Tagore

30. “To be poor and be without trees, is to be the most starved human being in the world. To be poor and have trees, is to be completely rich in ways that money can never buy.” ― Clarissa Pinkola Estés

31. “I feel a great regard for trees; they represent age and beauty, and the miracles of life and growth.” ― Louise Dickinson Rich

Final Thoughts

I know that you don’t need me to tell you how important and beautiful trees are. But I feel like, for all the things they do, trees don’t get enough credit. They’ve given us so much, and yet they don’t get the love that they deserve.

To help you see just how magnificent they are, I thought that I should share my absolute favorite quotes about trees. These quotes always brighten my day and make me smile and want to be a better person. I hope that they do the same for you.

Nicole Middleton
Nicole calls herself a typical millennial girl and thrives on her share of social media, celebrity gossip, and all things viral content. She’s a big fan of pop music and plays the guitar as a hobby.