trees Quotes

“A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean.”

“I am the Lorax who speaks for the trees, which you seem to be chopping as fast as you please!”

“A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had! Worth three cents more to give away than sell, As may be shown by a simple calculation. Too bad I couldn’t lay one in a letter. I can’t help wishing I could send you one, In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas.”

“A tree house, a free house, A secret you and me house, A high up in the leafy branches Cozy as can be house. A street house, a neat house, Be sure to wipe your feet house Is not my kind of house at all— Let’s go live in a tree house.”

“We live in a tree, way UP in a tree.”

“I would not, could not, in the rain. Not in the dark. Not on a train. Not in a car. Not in a tree. I do not like them, Sam, you see.”

“And I first saw the trees! The Truffula trees! The bright-colored tufts of the Truffula trees! Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.”

Far down in the forest, where the warm sun and the fresh air made a sweet resting-place, grew a pretty little fir-tree; and yet it was not happy, it wished so much to be tall like its companions— the pines and firs which grew around it.

“I am too old and sad to play.”

“And every day the boy would come and he would gather her leaves and play king of the forest.”

“He would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches and eat apples.”

“And they would play hide and go seek and when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade.”

″‘I am too big to climb and play,’ said the boy. ‘I want to buy things and have fun. I want some money. Can you give me some money?‘”

“And the tree was happy . . .”

″‘Come, Boy,’ she whispered, ‘come and play.‘”

“And the boy loved the tree . . . very much. And the tree was happy.”

″You may cut off my branches and build a house. Then you will be happy.”

“The one tree in Francie’s yard was neither a pine nor a hemlock. It had pointed leaves which grew along green switches which radiated from the bough and made a tree which looked like a lot of opened green umbrellas. Some people called it the Tree of Heaven.”

“The same substance composes us--the tree overhead, the stone beneath us, the bird, the beast, the star--we are all one, all moving to the same end.”

“You may like them. You will see. You may like them in a tree!”

“I could not, would not, on a boat. I will not, will not, with a goat. I will not eat them in the rain. I will not eat them on a train. Not in the dark! Not in a tree! Not in a car! You let me be! I do not like them in a box. I do not like them with a fox. I will not eat them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse. I do not like them here or there. I do not like them ANYWHERE!”

“Tell your secret to the wind, but don’t blame it for telling the trees.”

“Excepting for that one walk when he left jail, when he was too much worried to notice anything, and for a few times that he had rested in the city parks in the winter time when he was out of work, he had literally never seen a tree! And now he felt like a bird lifted up and borne away upon a gale; he stopped and stared at each new sight of wonder—at a herd of cows, and a meadow full of daisies, at hedgerows set thick with June roses, at little birds singing in the trees.”

“I must warn you that I see your enemies lurking among the trees ahead, and if you ever let Craven Fear begin painting a picture on the screen of your imagination, you will walk with fear and trembling and agony, where no fear is.”

“These giants of the forest are something to behold. Some have been growing for a thousand years, and each tree contains its own story of the centuries’ long struggle for survival. Looking at the annular rings of the wood, you can tell what seasons they have been through. In some drought years they almost perished, as growth is barely perceptible. In others, the growth was far greater.”

“The meaning of my thoughts started to float away from me, like leaves that fall from a tree into a river, I was the tree, the world was the river.”

“Only a baby would have thought it really happened. Only a baby would believe that a tree—seriously, a tree—had walked down the hill and attacked the house.”

“I thought it was a dream at first,” Conor said […], “but then I kept finding leaves when I woke up and little trees growing out of the floor. I’ve been hiding them all so no one will find out.”

“Even though it walked and talked, even though it was bigger than his house and could swallow him in one bite, the monster was still, at the end of the day, just a yew tree. Conor could even see more berries growing from the branches at its elbows.”

“I stayed where I was and studied the tree. I wondered if my mama, wherever she was, had a tree full of bottles; and I wondered if I was a ghost to her, the same way she sometimes seemed like a ghost to me”

“Wealth, like a tree, grows from a tiny seed. The first copper you save is the seed from which your tree of wealth shall grow. The sooner you plant that seed the sooner shall the tree grow. And the more faithfully you nourish and water that tree with consistent savings, the sooner may you bask in contentment beneath its shade.”

“There were maples and oaks to the west, and a hemlock forest to the right that pulled me right across the sweet grasses, into it. Never, never have I seen such trees. They were giants--old, old giants. They must have begun when the world began.”

“But since thou canst not be my wife, at least thou shalt be my tree; my hair, my lyre, my quiver shall always have thee, oh laurel!”

“Trees and bushes grow over concrete, reclaiming little pockets and corners, but even more have been cleared away. Shattered glass crunches under my feet and clouds of dust drift in the wind, but somehow this place, the picture of neglect, doesn’t feel abandoned. I know this place from the histories, from the books and old maps.”

“That is the way leaves fall around a tree in autumn, a tree unaware of the rain running down its sides, of the sun or the frost, and of life gradually retreating inward. The tree does not die. It waits.”

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

″ ‘Whew’ said D to E F G. ‘I’ll beat you to the top of the coconut tree.’ ”

“Chicka Chicka boom boom! Will there be enough room?”

″ Skit skat skoodle doot. Flip flop flee. Everybody running to the coconut tree.”

″ Look who’s coming! It’s black-eyed P, Q R S, and loose-tooth T.”

″‘I don’t think you have particularly good manners with ladies,’ said Pippi. Then she lifted him high into the air with her strong arms. She carried him into a nearby birch tree, and hung him across a branch.”

“That is not a honey bee! That was not a honey tree!”

The Tree, home to Toby and his people, symbolizes through its physical structure, the social hierarchy of the people who dwell within it. Toby’s parents marriage, for example, is a rarity as his parents come from different branches of the Tree.

This is the dystopian story of Toby Lolness,where his life is turned upside down,with the whole tree against him and his family for crimes they did not commit and a secret that could change the very tree forever.

The people of ‘The Tree’ see a new threat on the horizon but wait what are they in reality, friend or foe?This is revealed to Toby as he observes and then later lives the fragile life of the ‘Grass’.But even as Toby begins a new life and leaves the tree and his grief behind something Elisha had said naggs at him:You have only one life Toby

“This looks just like a honey tree. And ... it feels just like a honey tree. And... it goes ‘Buzz! Buzz!’ like a honey tree. And... it tastes just like a honey tree!”

″ ‘If you become a bird and fly away from me,’ said his mother, ‘I will be a tree that you come home to.’ ”

What a lovely day at the fair. Children lining up for pony rides . . . moms and dads in a pie-eating contest . . . babies chasing butterflies . . . babies heading for the trees . . . I SAY! Where are those babies GOING?

“Then Little Nutbrown Hare had a good idea. He tumbled upside down and reached up the tree trunk with his feet. ‘I love you all the way up to my toes!’ he said.”

“Then all afternoon, both in winter and summer, the King made his rounds by the edge of the seas. Every root of every Dike Tree he inspected every day.”

“Why did the English language have so few words for green? Every leaf and every tree had its own shade of green. Another example of how far Nature was still ahead of humans. ”

“It was late one winter night, long past my bedtime, when Pa and I went owling. There was no wind. The trees stood still as giant statues. And the moon was so bright the sky seemed to shine.”

“I didn’t ask what kind of things hide behind black trees in the middle of the night. When you go owling you have to be brave.”

“All of a sudden, an owl shadow, part of the big tree shadow, lifted off and flew right over us.”

“Grass grew high and trees grew tall.”

“Once there were three baby owls: Sarah and Percy and Bill. They lived in a hole in the trunk of a tree with their Owl Mother.”

“The snows came. Leo’s father wasn’t watching. But Leo still wasn’t blooming. The trees budded. Leo’s father wasn’t watching. But Leo still wasn’t blooming.”

“The garden always made Mog very excited. She smelled all the smells. She chased the birds. She climbed the trees. She ran round and round with a big fluffed-up tail. And then she forgot the cat flap”

“Fishes, both large and small, glide between the branches, as birds fly among the trees.”

“That’s not a coconut tree! It’s Enormous Crocodile and he wants to eat you up!”

“They opened the front door, and went outside. ‘Come on then, Hannah,’ said the gorilla, and he gently lifted her up. Then they were off, swinging through the trees towards the zoo. “

“But all that he could see, but all that he could see, The other side of the mountain, the other side of the mountain, then he got stuck up a tree!”

“Few people realize this, but cutting down the trees is one of the things that keeps us Malawians poor.”

“But we both have umbrellas way up in the tree.”

“And we crawl in the Fall, and we dance on the branches way up in the tree.”

“How will we get down, down, down to the ground? Are we stuck here forever way up in the tree?”

“Oh my! Oh me! Someone’s taken the ladder away from the tree!”

“We like our old tree, our home in the tree; We swing in the Spring.”

“When it blows don’t fall off, don’t wriggle or cough, hold tight to the branches way up in the tree.”

“There’s no one to talk to and nothing to see, and there’s no more hot water up here in our tree!”

“Do trees exist?”

“She’s sure, on no evidence whatsoever, that trees are social creatures. It’s obvious to her: motionless things that grow in mass mixed communities must have evolved ways to synchronize with one another.”

“Property and mastery: nothing else counts. Earth will be monetized until all trees grow in straight lines, three people own all seven continents, and every living organism is bred to be slaughtered.”

“Should I seek out some tree? Should I desert these form rooms and libraries, and the broad yellow page in which I read Catullus, for woods and fields? Should I walk under beech trees, or saunter along the river bank, where the trees meet united like lovers in the water?”

“You and the tree in your backyard come from a common ancestor. A billion and a half years ago, the two of you parted ways.”

“She remembers the Buddha’s words: A tree is a wondrous thing that shelters, feeds, and protects all living things. It even offers shade to the axmen who destroy it. And with those words, she has her book’s end.”

“But this is America, where men and trees take the most surprising outings.”

“Suddenly he was aware of the deep whine of machines in the hills behind Sarah’s to the north. He raised his arm so that his hand seemed to slide over the perfect roll and curve of the hill range before him to the south. He fluffed the trees out there and smoothed out the sky. All was still and ordered, the way he liked to pretend he arranged it every day.”

“After traveling for what seemed to be a great distance, Manyara came to a small clearing. There, silhouetted against the moonlight, was an old woman seated on a large stone. The old woman spoke. ‘I will give you some advice, Manyara. Soon after you pass the place where two paths cross, you will see a grove of trees. They will laugh at you. You must not laugh in return. Later, you will meet a man with his head under his arm. You must be polite to him.’ ”

“And he sat down very slowly, under the tree and leaned back little by little against the tree-trunk so as not to disturb the caps on his head. ”

“As the wedding party moved through the forest, brightly plumed birds darted about in the cool green shadows beneath the trees. Though anxious about her sister, Nyasha was soon filled with excitement about all there was to see.”

“The sun was high in the sky when the party came to the grove of towering trees. Their uppermost branches seemed to bow down to Nyasha as she passed beneath them. At last, someone announced that they were near their destination.”

“each monkey pulled off his cap…and all the gray caps, and all the brown caps, and all the blue caps, and all the red caps came flying down out of the tree.”

“Would you like to denude the earth of all the trees and all the living beings in order to satisfy your fantasy of rejoicing in the naked light?”

“It’s still hard to fit into things. In the school play, I am Tree Number Two. And when we go camping, I get a LOT of fresh air.”

“When I go I shall travel on a boat of the Booth Line and it will take four weeks to go across the Atlantic, and then when I get to Brazil I still have to travel a thousand miles along the river between trees that lean over the water, and there will be scarlet birds and sandbanks and creatures like big guinea pigs called capa.... cabybaras which you can tame.”

“Alfie makes a couple of trips - to the swings, the sandbox, the tree to the swings, the sandbox, the tree. There’s no little boy. Alfie takes the car home.”

“I said nothing, nor so much as lifted my face. I had seen murder done, and a great, ruddy, jovial gentleman struck out of life in a moment; the pity of that sight was still sore within me, and yet that was but a part of my concern. Here was murder done upon the man Alan hated; here was Alan skulking in the trees and running from the troops; and whether his was the hand that fired or only the head that ordered, signified but little. By my way of it, my only friend in that wild country was blood-guilty in the first degree; I held him in horror; I could not look upon his face; I would have rather lain alone in the rain on my cold isle, than in that warm wood beside a murderer.”

“He walked on, quite unconscious of the direction in which he was going, and more than once finding his hat knocked off by branch of a tree which he had not perceived- for the best of all possible reasons, because his eyes were cast on the ground- when his ears were saluted with the neighing of a horse.”

“There was an Old Man of Dundee, Who frequented the top of a tree; When disturbed by the Crows, he abruptly arose, And exclaimed, ‘I’ll return to Dundee!’ ”

“For old Mrs. Earth was fast asleep; and, like many pretty people, she looked still prettier asleep than awake. The great elm trees in their gold-green meadows were fast asleep above, and the cows fast asleep beneath them; nay, the few clouds which were about were fast asleep likewise, and so tired that they had lain down on the earth to rest, in long white flakes and bars, among the stems of the elm trees, and along the tops of the alders by the stream, waiting for the sun to bid them rise and go about their days business in the clear blue overhead.”

“The earth was rushing past like a river or a sea below him. Trees and water and green grass hurried away beneath. Now there was nothing but the roofs of houses sweeping along like a great torrent of stones and rocks. Chimney’s fell and tiles flew from the roofs. There was a great roaring for the wind was dashing against London like a stormy sea. Diamond, of course, at the back of North Wind was in a calm but he could hear it.”

“Nothing ever went wrong at the back of the north wind and the only thing one ever missed was someone he loved who had not yet got there. But if one at the back of the north wind wanted to know how things were going with any one he loved, he had only to go to a certain tree, and climb up and sit down in the branches.”

“If all the oceans on Earth were ink, and all of the trees were pens, they still would not be sufficient to write down the knowledge God has.”

“Little boy, you are making up stories again. There is nothing in the meadow but grass and trees. Go into the meadow and see for yourself.”

“Good heavens! what a ninny my brother is! he’ll never come to any good; as the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined.”

“Scarce had he advanced toward the wood when all the great trees, the bushes, and brambles gave way of themselves to let him pass through; he walked up to the castle which he saw at the end of a large avenue which he went into; and what a little surprised him was that he saw none of his people could follow him, because the trees closed again as soon as he passed through them. However, he did not cease from continuing his way; a young and amorous prince is always valiant.”

“As they came out from the shelter of the trees and the Great Meadows stretched before them, Kit caught her breath. She had not expected anything like this. From that first moment, in a way she could never explain, the Meadows claimed her and made her their own. As far as she could see they stretched on either side, a great level sea of green, broken here and there by a solitary graceful elm. Was it the fields of sugar cane they brought to mind, or the endless reach of the ocean to meet the sky? Or was it simply the sense of freedom and space and light that spoke to her of home?”

“I guess I’m just feeling Septemberish. It’s getting toward autumn now. And it’s so pretty up in Connecticut. All the trees change color. The days get very clear—with a little smoke on the horizon from burning leaves. Pumpkins begin to come out.”

“Just as he was looking to see if he had anything left to eat, something hit him on the head. It was a tangerine. He had been sleeping right under a tree full of big, fat tangerines.”

“Priscilla Lapham. Ever since Rab had taken her home and left Johnny to eat six fried eggs by himself, he had felt differently about Cilla. She had been his best friend during the years he worked at the Laphams’. And then for some months she had been a drag on him. He had not bothered much with her. Overnight that had changed. He was always looking forward to Thursdays and the seed cakes and the half-hour sitting out under the fruit trees with Cilla.”

“I’ve already said we spent hours and hours in the trees, and not for utilitarian reasons, like many boys, who climb up just to look for fruit or birds’ nests, but for the pleasure of overcoming difficult protuberances and forks, and getting as high as possible, and finding beautiful places to stop and look at the world below, to make jokes and shout at those who passed under us.”

“Jenny had never been in a forest, but strangely enough she was not frightened. The odd smells oozing from the earth and trees delighted her. The farther she went, the more the forest seemed like something that had happened to her long ago.”

“in a way they didn’t cost anything at all. After the last present had been opened and the last candle on the tree blown out, they played charades and hide-and-seek all over the house. It was all great fun; but everybody suddenly thought about the time. This was the end, and Christmas Day was over for another year, which was a miserable feeling.”

“It seemed to the children that the ceiling above them opened into a forest in a tropical night: they could see giant trees, with the stars in their boughs and fireflies gleaming out and ceasing to gleam among the lower sprays.”

“The tree was a friend to all, and it had one human friend, who as a child had seen it first when trailing in summer after her father hunting the otters of the brook.”

Rain The rain is raining all around, It falls on field and tree, It rains on the umbrellas here, And on the ships at sea.

Foreign Lands Up into the cherry tree Who should climb but little me? I held the trunk with both my hands And looked abroad on foreign lands. I saw the next-door garden lie, Adorned with flowers, before my eye, And many pleasant places more That I had never seen before.

Singing Of speckled eggs the birdie sings And nests among the trees; The sailor sings of ropes and things In ships upon the seas. The children sing in far Japan, The children sing in Spain; The organ with the organ man Is singing in the rain.

“Windy Nights Whenever the moon and stars are set, Whenever the wind is high, All night long in the dark and wet, A man goes riding by, Late in the night when the fires are out, Why does he gallop and gallop about? Whenever the trees are crying aloud, And ships are tossed at sea, By, on the highway, low and loud, By at the gallop goes he, By at the gallop he goes, and then By he comes back at the gallop again.”

″ ‘Meat and drink on the same tree!’ cried Peterkin; ‘washing in the sea, lodging on the ground, -and all for nothing! My dear boys, we’re set up for life; it must be the ancient Paradise, -hurrah!’ ”

“Poor Angelina got such a fright she did not waste a moment, but hopped away as hast as her legs could carry her. On and on she went, breathless with fear, not daring to look behind. She reached the foot of the gum-tree and thumped wildly with her tail.”

“At once the bush was filled with laughter. Wild kookaburras who were no relation to Jacko had flown into a nearby tree, and they made a terrible din, chuckling and laughing at the top of their voices. Nobody could speak for the noise.”

“Often Katy would wish that she someday could be something quiet and simple like a lovely elm tree, or a ramshackle barn all alone on a hill where the noisiest thing was a squeaky windmill.”

“When Katy hit the curve she took off like a kite, High over the treetops on her first and last flight, That would quickly have ended poor Katy caboose If it hadn’t been for two towering spruce. The caboose became caught in a very tight squeeze Between the tall trunks of two evergreen trees.”

“Like a great glaring eye, then, the light searched about. It flashed past the trees down the steep rocky bluff And it searched high and low, but not quite high enough.”

“Katy stayed in the treetops, no one ever found her. Except for the squirrels and the birds all around her. At last she was free, just as free as the breeze, And how Katy did love it up there in the trees.”

“Street Show Puff, puff, puff. How the trumpets blow All you little boys and girls come and see the show. One-two-three, the Cat runs up the tree; But the little Bird he flies away- ‘She hasn’t got me!’ ”

“What struck Tom’s youthful imagination was the desperate and lawless character of most of the stories. Was the guard hoaxing him? He couldn’t help hoping that they were true. It’s very odd how almost all English boys love danger. You can get ten to join a game, or climb a tree, or swim a stream, when there’s a chance of breaking their limbs or getting drowned, for one who’ll stay on level ground, or in his depth, or play quoits or bowls.”

″ ‘Hooray! shouted Yertle. ‘I’m king of the trees! I’m king of the birds! And I’m king of the bees! I’m king of the butterflies! King of the air! Ah, me! What a throne! What a wonderful chair! I’m Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me! For I am the ruler of all that I see!’ ”

“Some of the reasons why trees are so good to have around are funny. Some are indisputable facts.”

“I love the way trees grow up and down at the same time. I wish we could do that.”

“Under the ground, deep in the earth among the roots of the trees, the little root children were fast asleep all winter long...”

“Three trees on a mountain dream of what they wanted to become when they grew up. One wants to be a treasure chest, another an ocean-going boat, and the third a ...”

...” bur no mighty sailing ships were built that day. Instead the once strong tree was made into a simple fishing boat.”

“The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. ‘What happened’ the once-tall tree wondered.”