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Link Quote Stars Tags Author
d9a25cb Of all the trees we could've hit, we had to get one that hits back. trees J.K. Rowling
fd5b097 Don't be ashamed to weep; 'tis right to grieve. Tears are only water, and flowers, trees, and fruit cannot grow without water. But there must be sunlight also. A wounded heart will heal in time, and when it does, the memory and love of our lost ones is sealed inside to comfort us. emotion emotions flowers fruit growing nature sadness sunlight tears trees water Brian Jacques
aa278eb "When Great Trees Fall When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws on kind words unsaid, promised walks never taken. Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves. And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. They existed. death i-shall-not-be-moved life maya-angelou peace poem poems poet poetry poets soul souls trees when-great-trees-fall writers writing Maya Angelou
674d159 Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. beauty clouds grass idleness inspirational nature rest science sky summer time trees water John Lubbock
3a854c6 Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year. autumn encourage fall inspirational life love nature trees Chad Sugg
41c7cb7 A cold wind was blowing from the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things. a-song-of-ice-and-fire coldness fear forest george-r-r-martin north snow the-wall trees wind winter George R.R. Martin
bf93c36 Trees're always a relief, after people. forest humanity nature trees David Mitchell
f3c500d If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, doesn't it just lie there and rot? trees Chuck Palahniuk
bd4a870 Listen to the trees talking in their sleep,' she whispered, as he lifted her to the ground. 'What nice dreams they must have! l-m-montgomery trees L.M. Montgomery
ae0a77a Plants are more courageous than almost all human beings: an orange tree would rather die than produce lemons, whereas instead of dying the average person would rather be someone they are not. act acting actor actors adage adages animal animals aphorism aphorisms audacity axiom axioms balls be-yourself boldness brave bravery cojones conform conforming conformity courage courageous courageousness daring dead death deep dictum dictums die epigram epigrams facade façades fear fearful fearlessness fit-in fitting-in fruit fruits gallantry gnome gnomes grit guts hardihood heroism herself himself human human-being human-beings humans humor humour insightful inspiration inspirational inspire inspired intrepidity kill killed lemon lemons made-me-think make-you-think maxim maxims motivated motivational motive moxie murder murdered nerve nonconformity oneself orange people peoples person persons plant plants pluck pluckiness pretend pretender pretenders pretending produce profound proverb proverbs provoke-thought quotation quotations quote quotes satire satirical saying sayings self spunk standing-out standout themselves thought-provoking thoughtful tree trees true-grit valour words-to-live-by yourself Mokokoma Mokhonoana
c570e85 In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike. journeys trees Paulo Coelho
cf14ff7 Their life is mysterious, it is like a forest; from far off it seems a unity, it can be comprehended, described, but closer it begins to separate, to break into light and shadow, the density blinds one. Within there is no form, only prodigious detail that reaches everywhere: exotic sounds, spills of sunlight, foliage, fallen trees, small beasts that flee at the sound of a twig-snap, insects, silence, flowers. And all of this, dependent, closely woven, all of it is deceiving. There are really two kinds of life. There is, as Viri says, the one people believe you are living, and there is the other. It is this other which causes the trouble, this other we long to see. forest metaphor people trees James Salter
3d2a090 To dwellers in a wood, almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature. trees wood Thomas Hardy
3cc85a0 Trees, for example, carry the memory of rainfall. In their rings we read ancient weather--storms, sunlight, and temperatures, the growing seasons of centuries. A forest shares a history, which each tree remembers even after it has been felled. trees Anne Michaels
cfe4942 I am at home among trees. j-r-r-tolkien the-lord-of-the-rings tree trees J.R.R. Tolkien
e882002 I got a statistic for you right now. Grab your pencil, Doug. There are five billion trees in the world. I looked it up. Under every tree is a shadow, right? So, then, what makes night? I'll tell you: shadows crawling out from under five billion trees! Think of it! Shadows running around in the air, muddying the waters you might say. If only we could figure a way to keep those darn five billion shadows under those trees, we could stay up half the night, Doug, because there'd be no night! dandelion-wine kids night trees Ray Bradbury
56e155d Trees were so rare in that country, and they had to make such a hard fight to grow, that we used to feel anxious about them, and visit them as if they were persons. prairie trees Willa Cather
99682cf She was sitting in a garden more beautiful than even her rampaging imagination could ever have conjured up, and she was being serenaded by trees. trees Lynn Kurland
6eff85b From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom...It was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remembered again. What? How? Why? This singing she heard that had nothing to do with her ears. The rose of the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all her waking moments and caressed her in her sleep. nature trees Zora Neale Hurston
b15072c I did not want to think about people. I wanted the trees, the scents and colors, the shifting shadows of the wood, which spoke a language I understood. I wished I could simply disappear in it, live like a bird or a fox through the winter, and leave the things I had glimpsed to resolve themselves without me. forest fox myths nature trees woods Patricia A. McKillip
9770849 Leaves turned to soil beneath my feet. Thus it is, trees eat themselves. reincarnation trees David Mitchell
fe944b7 "A tree's most important means of staying connected to other trees is a "wood wide web" of soil fungi that connects vegetation in an intimate network that allows the sharing of an enormous amount of information and goods." -- fungi fungus soil trees Tim Flannery
8064f47 Trees are as close to immortality as the rest of us ever come. trees Karen Joy Fowler
9a795e5 Tree planting is always a utopian enterprise, it seems to me, a wager on a future the planter doesn't necessarily expect to witness. nature trees Michael Pollan
5d39d0f Life always bursts the boundaries of formulas. Defeat may prove to have been the only path to resurrection, despite its ugliness. I take it for granted that to create a tree I condemn a seed to rot. If the first act of resistance comes too late it is doomed to defeat. But it is, nevertheless, the awakening of resistance. Life may grow from it as from a seed. life resistance seeds trees Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
988eddb Time is different for a tree than for a man. Sun and soil and water, these are the things a weirwood understands, not days and years and centuries. For men, time is a river. We are trapped in its flow, hurtling from past to present, always in the same direction. The lives of trees are different. They root and grow and die in one place, and that river does not move them. The oak is the acorn, the acorn is the oak. epistemology humanity past present time trees George R.R. Martin
b45eecc "Her bedroom window overlooked the garden, and now and then, usually when she was "having a bad spell," Mr. Helm had seen her stand long hours gazing into the garden, as though what she saw bewitched her. ("When I was a girl," she had once told a friend, "I was terribly sure trees and flowers were the same as birds or people. That they thought things, and talked among themselves. And we could hear them if we really tried. It was just a matter of emptying your head of all other sounds. Being very quiet and listening very hard. Sometimes I still believe that. But one can never get quiet enough...")" nature trees Truman Capote
abacc7c We don't want to focus on the trees (or their leaves) at the expense of the forest. trees Douglas R. Hofstadter
1b1a116 I was used to heat but this place was so dry the trees were bribing the dogs. heat trees Irvine Welsh
171cde5 A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. If one listens to them silently for a long time, the longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. It is not so much a matter of escaping from one's suffering, though it may seem to be so. It is a longing for home, for a memory of the mother, for new metaphors for life. It leads home. longing nature trees Hermann Hesse
500d825 The way surviving hard winters makes a tree grows stronger, the growth rings inside it tighter growing-up growth hard haruki-murakami inspirational life strong survival survivor trees Haruki Murakami
bd0f2e6 Jaime had never realised that trees made a sound when they grew, and no-one else had realised it either, because the sound is made over hundreds of years in waves of twenty-four hours from peak to peak. Speed it up, and the sound a tree makes is . trees unknown-phenomena Terry Pratchett
977a62b All forests are one... They are all echoes of the first forest that gave birth to Mystery when the world began. mystery trees world Charles de Lint
3009542 He'd grown unused to woods like this. He'd become accustomed to the Northwest, evergreen and shaded dark. Here he was surrounded by soft leaves, not needles; leaves that carried their deaths secretly inside them, that already heard the whispers of Autumn. Roots and branches that knew things. autumn leaves pretty-prose swooning-over-sentences trees woods Michael Montoure
c212f54 Voll Bluten steht der Pfirsichbaum nicht jede wachst zur Frucht sie schimmern hell wie Rosenschaum durch Blau und Wolkenflucht. Wie Bluten geh'n Gedanken auf hundert an jedem Tag -- lass' bluhen, lass' dem Ding den Lauf frag' nicht nach dem Ertrag! Es muss auch Spiel und Unschuld sein und Blutenuberfluss sonst war' die Welt uns viel zu klein und Leben kein Genuss. beauty blossoms enjoyment growth ideas innocence metaphors peach-tree poetry trees Hermann Hesse
d5103bb The branches of the trees looked as if they were holding hands and bowing their heads in prayer. sorrow trees Ishmael Beah
2d4e355 I went to the springs while the sun was still up, and sitting on a rocky outcrop above the cave mouth I watched the light grow reddish across the misty pools, and listened to the troubled voice of the water. After a while I moved farther up the hill, where I could hear birds singing near and far in the silence of the trees. The presence of the trees was very strong...The big oaks stood so many, so massive in their other life, in their deep, rooted silence: the awe of them came on me, the religion. religion spirituality trees Ursula K. Le Guin
75675c5 This afternoon I sat at my window and alternately wrote at my new serial and watched a couple of dear, amusing, youngish maple-trees at the foot of the garden. They whispered secrets to each other all the afternoon. They would bend together and talk earnestly for a few moments, then spring back and look at each other, throwing up their hands comically in horror and amazement over their mutual revelations. I wonder what new scandal is afoot in Treeland. anthropomorphism trees L.M. Montgomery
73934f9 Maybe that is the one real division between men: wood men and desert men. men trees wood Kurban Said
f1efd9d I thought all the trees were whispering to each other, passing news and plots along in an unintelligible language; and the branches swayed and groped without any wind. They do say the trees do actually move, and can surround strangers and hem them. trees J.R.R. Tolkien
7514bb9 "As soon as he had disappeared Deborah made for the trees fringing the lawn, and once in the shrouded wood felt herself safe. She walked softly along the alleyway to the pool. The late sun sent shafts of light between the trees and onto the alleyway, and a myriad insects webbed their way in the beams, ascending and descending like angels on Jacob's ladder. But were they insects, wondered Deborah, or particles of dust, or even split fragments of light itself, beaten out and scattered by the sun? It was very quiet. The woods were made for secrecy. They did not recognise her as the garden did. ("The Pool")" trees woods Daphne du Maurier
486e39b "The infinitesimal seedlings became a forest of trees that grew courteously, correcting the distances between themselves as they shaped themselves to the promptings of available light and moisture, tempering the climate and the temperaments of the Scots, as the driest land became moist and the wettest land became dry, seedlings finding a mean between extremes, and the trees constructing a moderate zone for themselves even into what I would have called tundra, until I understood the fact that Aristotle taught, while walking in a botanic garden, that the middle is fittest to discern the extremes. ("Interim")" extremes middle nature scotland trees William S. Wilson
bcf3541 Every morning I was renewed, though. Air and light healed me, over and over. I got to where I depended on it. When I was feeling my worst, I would step out into the yard and put my hands on the branches of the little redbud. It made me feel like I was saying a prayer, to do this. I know that sounds like foolishness, but that little tree was like an altar for me. I stood there in the cold of early winter, wishing for the redbud to bear leaves so that I might put my face against them. prayer trees Silas House
f1e2e06 Animals had returned to what was left of the forest...clusters of orange butterflies exploded off the blackish purple piles of bear sign and winked and fluttered magically like leaves without trees. More bears than people traveled the muddy road, leaving tracks straight up and down the middle of it... bears butterflies forest trees Denis Johnson
685c836 "Why do some trees stay green while others change their color?" "Certain trees need to show off, dear. I'm sure that my big brother could explain why it happens. Dahlaine loves to explain things, and he can be very tedious about it. I prefer simpler answers. The trees are sad because summer's almost over." autumn-leaves forest mansplain mansplaining nature sexism trees David Eddings
be1fa22 In a designed economy there would be no trees, or certainly no very tall trees: no forests, no canopy. Trees are a waste. Trees are extravagant. Tree trunks are standing monuments to futile competition - futile if we think in terms of a planed economy. But the natural economy is not planned. Individual plants compete with other plants, of the same and other species, and the result is that they grow taller and taller, far taller than any planner would recommend. science trees Richard Dawkins
fb3e493 There were two forests for every one you entered. There was the one you walked in, the physical echo, and then there was the one that was connected to all the other forests, with no consideration of distance, or time. The forest primeval, remembered through the collective memory of every tree in the same way that people remembered myth- through the collective subconscious that Jung mapped, the shared mythic resonance that lay buried in every human mind. Legend and myth, all tangled in an alphabet of trees remembered, not always with understanding, but with wonder. With awe. forest myth mythic spirit trees Charles de Lint
dcc01e5 Oh oak tree, how they have pruned you. Now you stand odd and strangely shaped! You were hacked a hundred times until you had nothing left but spite and will! I am like you, so many insults and humiliations could not shatter my link with life. And every day I raise my head beyond countless insults towards new light. What in me was once gentle, sweet and tender this world has ridiculed to death. But my true self cannot be murdered. I am at peace and reconciled. I grow new leaves with patience from branches hacked a hundred times. In spite of all the pain and sorrow I'm still in love with this mad, mad world. trees Hermann Hesse
57ee32e The mountain trees that grew between the pines were a brilliant blaze of fall colors, like fire against the emerald green of the pines, firs and pruces. And it was, as I'd told myself long ago, the year's last passionate love affair before it grew old and died from the frosty bite of winter. change colors fall fire love passionate running seasons trees winter V.C. Andrews
0995363 Soon the maroon-throated howls would echo back from the other trees, father down the beach, until the whole jungle filled with roaring trees. As it was in the beginning, so it is every morning of the world. lacuna monkeys trees Barbara Kingsolver
24b3c0a They regarded our passage not at all, and by the afternoon I felt no more significant than an ant. I had never thought to be disdained by a tree. nature trees Robin Hobb
23365a1 [S]he realized quite abruptly that this thing which took him off, which kept him out so many hours day after day, this thing that was against her own little will and instincts--was enormous as the sea. It was no mere prettiness of single Trees, but something massed and mountainous. About her rose the wall of its huge opposition to the sky, its scale gigantic, its power utterly prodigious. What she knew of it hitherto as green and delicate forms waving and rustling in the winds was but, as it were the spray of foam that broke into sight upon the nearer edge of viewless depths far, far away. The trees, indeed, were sentinels set visibly about the limits of a camp that itself remained invisible. The awful hum and murmur of the main body in the distance passed into that still room about her with the firelight and hissing kettle. Out yonder--in the Forest further out--the thing that was ever roaring at the center was dreadfully increasing. trees Algernon Blackwood
7879b53 I want to think about trees. Trees have a curious relationship to the subject of the present moment. There are many created things in the universe that outlive us, that outlive the sun, even, but I can't think about them. I live with trees. There are creatures under our feet, creatures that live over our heads, but trees live quite convincingly in the same filament of air we inhabit, and in addition, they extend impressively in both directions, up and down, shearing rock and fanning air, doing their real business just out of reach. beauty belief consciousness creation curiosity disbelief energy enoughness epiphany exploration exultant faith fate fearless fire free freedom gaps god grace growth hallelujah humility illumination intricacy joy joyful joyfulness life-force light living-in-the-present-moment mindfulness multiplicity mystery nature philosopher-s-stone philosophy poem poet poetry power praise prayer prayers praying religion religious-diversity science seeing seeking soul spirit stalking-the-gaps the-tree-with-the-lights-in-it tolerance trees walking watching wonder Annie Dillard
823bd26 It turned out plant collecting was a solitary occupation. In the past Robert had enjoyed being alone, or so he thought. Actually he had rarely been alone for long: working in hotels, in stables, on ranches and farms, and as a miner, he had always been around others. Now, out in the woods or up in the hills or out on the flat central plain, he could go for days without speaking to anyone. His throat seemed to close up and he had to keep clearing it, singing songs aloud or reciting the Latin names of plants, just to check that he still had a voice. 'Araucaria imbricata. Sequoia sempervirens. Pinus lambertiana. Abies magnifica'. He was surprised at how much he missed people.. solitude trees Tracy Chevalier
7b0cf27 I shall go and sit under a tree.... Which tree, Mma?... Oh, there are many trees in this life, she said. It does not matter which tree you choose, as long as you choose the right one. sitting trees Alexander McCall Smith
de3efa9 "What are you doing?" Alecto asked in surprise, stepping back. Laughing brightly, she dragged him towards the greenhouse, the shattered glass reflecting rainbows as brilliant as a million Kodak flashcubes, glittering as they were cascaded through the breeze. "See, don't be afraid of the glass, it can't hurt us," Mandy laughed, spectacularly eccentric, her eyes reflecting the fallen glass. "I wasn't afraid of the glass, but this isn't a very secluded place that you just decided to vandalize," Alecto cautioned, smiling despite his words. Before Mandy could reply, she heard loud whispering in the air, behind the trees... it sounded like a group of people, all whispering in unison... "Somebody's out there," she exclaimed nervously. "Yeah, you're right," Alecto replied. Suddenly a sharp new vibrancy seemed to fill his eyes and he smiled coldly, taking the tree branch from Mandy and rapidly smashing in all of Mrs. Matthias' stained glass house windows with it. Blue, green, yellow, red, turquoise, purple and an array of other colors showered through the sky noisily, sounding like wind chimes and crashing waves. "They'll go away," he told her, glancing up at the sky. "...Alecto, do you like me?" Mandy questioned, holding out her arms like a lopsided scarecrow as the glass fell through her dark red hair. "Yeah, sure," he answered. "Will you be my friend, then? A real friend, not just another person who feels sorry for me?" Mandy asked. "...Alright, Mandy Valems," Alecto agreed." air best-friends blue canada cape-breton children colored crashing cut depression flashcube friend friends friendship fun funny glass glitter green greenhouse growing-up house kodak love noir noise nostalgia nova-scotia red scarecrow sharp shatter smile sorry stained-glass trees vandalism vibrancy waves whispering wind-chimes yellow Rebecca McNutt
d3104ef In the draws the smoke coming off the ground like mist and the thin black trees burning on the slopes like heathen candles. the-road trees Cormac McCarthy
8a2506a If redwoods are the backbone of California, oaks are of England. trees Tracy Chevalier
d3a23e1 Trees are normally very general and all-inclusive with their wisdom pearls. When a tree decides to talk to you, it's a very, very big deal, as if the world stops, as if you are scooped up and held in a snow globe, weightless and womb-like. I felt their vibrations in my feathers, in the flutter of my little black heart. trees Kira Jane Buxton
462d7d2 "Do you believe in God, Martin?' And he answered, 'Yes, because of His trees. Don't you?' radclyffe-hall religion trees well-of-loneliness Radclyffe Hall
9bcee31 And yet I felt a tickling cognizance, dewdrops beading in my mind. Perhaps I'd always known, always been aware that there is more to be seen than what is in front of me. Perhaps I'd deliberately chosen not to acknowledge the story a flower tells or the particular vibration of rocks. When the mole spoke of The Mother Trees, I didn't question him because somewhere deep down, below feather and skin and bleached bone, I knew. nature trees Kira Jane Buxton
49a6ed0 He could not tell all of the California pines apart, the gray pine from the coulter, the bushop from the knobcone and the Monterey. trees Tracy Chevalier
85d023e Trees were not hard, irritable things, but discreetly orgasmic beings moaning at a level too deep for our brutish ears. And flowers were quick explosive orgasms, like making love in the shower. nature orgasm sexual trees Yann Martel
b09c1c1 Winkler's breath plumed up onto his glasses. The entire valley was enveloped in a huge, illuminated stillness. Above him the clouds had pulled away and the sky burned with stars. The meadow smoldered with light, and the spruce had become illuminated kingdoms, snow sifting from branch to branch. He thought: This has been here every winter all my life. snow trees winter Anthony Doerr
ddfb977 "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep," Jess intoned as they took the path down from the parking lot. She had imagined finding a spot to read and meditate, leaving Emily to walk alone for half an hour, but the trees were so tall, and the light filtering down so green that she forgot her stratagem, and her troubles as well. The saplings here were three hundred years old, their bark still purple, their branches supple, foliage feathery in the gloaming. They rose up together with their ancestors, millennia-old redwoods outlasting storms, regenerating after lightning, sending forth new spires from blasted crowns. What did Hegel matter when it came to old-growth? Who cared about world-historical individuals? Not the salamanders or the moss. Not the redwoods, which were prehistoric. Potentially post-historic too." jess-bach muir redwood-forest trees woods Allegra Goodman
14d443a Am I the only one who recalls that Seth Turner used to think trees give off cold air because when you stand in the shade it's cooler than in the sun? sarcasm-humor shade trees Meg Cabot
b5d6cbf Though grafted at the same time, they had grown up to be different sizes; it always surprised James that the trees could turn out as varied as his children. grafted trees Tracy Chevalier