82 Plant Quotes to Inspire Your Green Thumb and Plant Love (2024)
Plants are essential to our natural ecosystems and crucial to any food chain. As they soak up energy from the sun, they grow and serve as food for humans and animals alike. Apart from that, they also provide shelter for a range of organisms. If you're a plant lover, you’ll love the plant quotes we’ve compiled here.
Below, you'll find inspirational quotes about plants, their benefits, and quotes about seasons and food. For art and literature lovers, we also have a selection of some of the best quotes from your favorite creatives, perfect for plant lovers.
Quick links to our curated selection of quotes about plants:
Best plant quotes
Apart from enjoying plants in all their forms out and about, many people bring plant life into their personal spaces. They play various roles, from the office to house plants, from providing a therapeutic presence to beautifying spaces. Best of all, they clean the air.
In this section, you’ll find some of our favorite plant quotes from various sources. As a result, you’re sure to find one or more quotes that you immediately feel drawn to.
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
- Robert Louis Stevenson
"A beautiful plant is like having a friend around the house."
- Beth Ditto
"A man doesn't plant a tree for himself. He plants it for posterity."
- Alexander Smith
"The best time to plant a tree was 25 years ago. The second-best time to plant a tree is today."
- Eliud Kipchoge
"When you plant something, you invest in a beautiful future amidst a stressful, chaotic and, at times, downright appalling world."
- Monty Don
"I plant vegetables and every time I see a flower I'm like, 'I'm going to get a vegetable in a few weeks!'"
- Wunmi Mosaku
"Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later."
- Og Mandino
Plant quotes about life and living
We may initially see plants as little green things. However, they can teach us about life and living, whether small or large. Although plants may be immobile compared to how we as humans move around, we can recognize their life.
Just as you nourish your body to grow, plants also need this to sustain life. Many plants also provide essential fruits, vegetables, and grains essential to our diets. Read on for our selection of plant quotes about life and living.
Related read: Fruits That Are Vegetables And Vice Versa.
"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."
- Greek proverb
"I'm really quite simple. I plant flowers and watch them grow... I stay at home and watch the river flow."
- George Harrison
"A plant is the most cliche thing, but a little bit of green has a great effect on happiness. Being at a cubicle all day is not pleasing, but a little life on your desk can give you a little life, too."
- Bobby Berk
"The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises."
- Leo Buscaglia
"Like a plant that starts up in showers and sunshine and does not know which has best helped it to grow, it is difficult to say whether the hard things or the pleasant things did me the most good."
- Lucy Larcom
"Let a man sow a field or plant a farm never so well, yet he cannot foretell who will gather in the fruits; another may build him a house of fairest proportion, yet he knows not who will inhabit it."
- Xenophon
"It's exciting to see things coming up again, plants that you've had twenty or thirty years. It's like seeing an old friend."
- Tasha Tudor
"If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people."
- Confucius
"My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them."
- Mitch Hedberg
"You can tell the tree by the fruit it bears. You see it through what the organization is delivering as far as a concrete program. If the tree's fruit sours or grows brackish, then the time has come to chop it down - bury it and walk over it and plant new seeds."
- Huey Newton
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
~ Michael Pollan
Inspiring and Motivating Quotes That Reference Plants
On the one hand, we can look at plants and the lessons literally. On the other hand, we can examine the metaphors in how plants grow and survive the elements. Just as you plant a seed to bloom into something beautiful, you can also plant ideas and dreams to live a desired life.
Some of these quotes reflect that we must plant seeds to attain specific outcomes. Suppose you want to live a certain type of lifestyle, for instance. In that case, you must engage in activities that contribute to that outcome. Watering the dream could look like keeping healthy, seeking opportunities, and many more. Here are some quotes and inspiration related to plants to keep you motivated.
"You can plant a dream."
- Anne Campbell
"I grow plants for many reasons: to please my eye or to please my soul, to challenge the elements or to challenge my patience, for novelty or for nostalgia, but mostly for the joy in seeing them grow."
- David Hobson
"He who plants kindness gathers love."
- Saint Basil
"We know we cannot plant seeds with closed fists. To sow, we must open our hands."
- Adolfo Perez Esquivel
"The sun is the most important thing in everybody's life, whether you're a plant, an animal or a fish, and we take it for granted."
- Danny Boyle
"I think that any time of great pain is a time of transformation, a fertile time to plant new seeds."
- Debbie Ford
"It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees."
- George Eliot
You know those plants that are always trying to find the light? Maybe they were planted in a location that didn't necessarily facilitate growth, but inexplicably they make a circuitous route to not only survive but bloom into a beautiful plant. That was me—my whole life.
~ Jonathan Van Ness
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.
~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Quotes about plants and looking after and nurturing houseplants
The growing plant requires nurturing, just like human beings. You’ll find that they need certain conditions to ensure they bloom. The amount of sunlight, water, air, and nutrients varies from species to species. However, these basic requirements ensure adequate and healthy plant growth.
Watching a plant grow can be one of the most fulfilling experiences. According to a report on plant care from Oklahoma State University, identifying plants is one of the most important steps to take when caring for them4. This includes identifying their species, varieties, and cultivars. If you’re looking for some words of comfort as you nurture your plants, here are some quotes about looking after them.
"He that plants trees, loves others besides himself."
- Thomas Fuller
"Before the reward there must be labor. You plant before you harvest. You sow in tears before you reap joy."
- Ralph Ransom
"You have to get up and plant the seed and see if it grows, but you can't just wait around, you have to water it and take care of it."
- Bootsy Collins
"The secret of improved plant breeding, apart from scientific knowledge, is love."
- Luther Burbank
"Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get."
- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
"Like people, plants respond to extra attention."
- H. Peter Loewer
Plants cry their gratitude for the sun in green joy.
~ Terri Guillemets
Plants give us oxygen for the lungs and for the soul.
~ Terri Guillemets
The garden is a love song, a duet between a human being and Mother Nature.
~ Jeff Cox
Plant quotes about the benefits they bring to the home, life, and soul
In some Native languages the term for plants translates to “those who take care of us.”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer
Researchers have conducted various studies to understand the benefits of bringing plants indoors3. If you already keep indoor plants, you’re probably already a fan of the benefits your plants provide.
One of the major contributions plants provide is cleaning the air. Basic Biology teaches us that plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. This oxygen is essential to our survival.
Apart from this essential role, plants also influence our overall well-being. A study revealed that indoor plants positively affect the human autonomic nervous system. The plants have this effect by suppressing sympathetic activity1.
You can consider home or office plants for more than beautification and the well-being benefits they offer. Apart from the physiological benefits, plant interactions can also reduce psychological stress. Several other studies also point to increased productivity when plants are around2. Here are some quotes and sayaging about plants exploring the benefits they bring indoors.
"Plants are solar powered air purifiers whose filter never needs replacing."
- Khang Kijarro Nguyen
"So plant your own gardens and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers."
- Jorge Luis Borges
"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul."
- Alfred Austin
"If you see how a plant grows and you taste it in situ you have a perfect example of how it should taste on the plate."
- Rene Redzepi
"Plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom."
- Ken Kesey
"Anything I plant, to actually watch it grow gives me great pleasure."
- Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
"One day is not enough to green our earth. Planting caring and love is also expecting our earth from us. Do it, It will heal not only the land but also your body and mind."
- Karthikeyan V
"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
Plants and flowers taught me how to grow, by growing in secret and in silence.
~ Michael Bassey Johnson
In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.
~ John Muir
Planting for the future quotes
If you’re on a sustainable living journey, you know how important it is to consider future generations when making decisions. Part of this includes planting for the future.
We can make healthy choices, from sustainably managed forests to small community gardens. Need a boost for your journey? Here are some quotes about planting for the future. These encourage protecting and preserving plants in nature.
"Just as our forefathers saved and invested to build what we, the current generation, are enjoying today, so, too, we must plant trees so that our sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters, can enjoy the shade."
- Lee Hsien Loong
"The only thing that ultimately matters is to eat an ice-cream cone, play a slide trombone, plant a small tree, good God, now you're free."
- Ray Manzarek
"I am sure that if you plant the trees back again, it will do nothing but good."
- Michael Fish
"As an environmental scientist, I think our first need is to feed and shelter and nurture. That has always required the exploitation of plant life, and it always will."
- Hope Jahren
"You will die but the carbon will not; its career does not end with you. It will return to the soil, and there a plant may take it up again in time, sending it once more on a cycle of plant and animal life."
- Jacob Bronowski
"Clean air and water, a diversity of animal and plant species, soil and mineral resources, and predictable weather are annuities that will pay dividends for as long as the human race survives - and may even extend our stay on Earth."
- Alex Steffen
"I plant a lot of trees. I am a great believer in planting things for future generations. I loathe the now culture where you just live for today."
- Penelope Keith
To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.
~ Audrey Hepburn
Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.
~ Liberty Hyde Bailey
Plant quotes and the seasons
Plant species have unique seasons in which they grow best. As seasons come and go, so do plant needs. Check out some plant inspiration for the seasons in the following quotes.
"I trust in nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility. Spring shall plant and autumn garner to the end of time."
- Robert Browning
"It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn."
- B. C. Forbes
"Some people plant in the spring and leave in the summer. If you're signed up for a season, see it through. You don't have to stay forever, but at least stay until you see it through."
- Jim Rohn
Planting for food and growing your own quotes
Growing your own food is a crucial sustainable living skill. It reduces overreliance on markets and commercial food systems. People grow foods in many settings.
Even if you don’t have the garden space, container gardens are a thing, and you can even help your plants along the way with urban composting. In this section, you’ll discover some quotes on planting for food. You'll appreciate these words if you’re already into gardening or thinking about it.
"If you grow the food you eat, it tastes better. Seasonal vegetables are grown at the right time, and you can make sure everything matures on the plant or on the tree. It's as fresh as you can get."
- Marc Gasol
"By depending on the great, The small may rise high. See: the little plant ascending the tall tree Has climbed to the top."
- Saskya Pandita
"What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action."
- Meister Eckhart
"The divide between a 'wild' plant and what is suitable for the garden is unnatural and meaningless. Gardens begin and end in the mind, and the Western way of thinking is not good at accommodating that."
- Monty Don
"People don't even understand that every bit of our food was once alive. We take another creature, plant, animal, microorganism, tear it apart in our mouths. And incorporate those molecules into our own bodies. We are the Earth in the most profound way."
- David Suzuki
Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.
~ May Sarton
Plant quotes about their beauty and uniqueness
Plants come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Each species is unique and exudes beauty in its own way. As seasons change, plants show us many different sides of their beauty as they retract in the colder months and bloom in the warmer ones.
Further, apart from the plants we easily recognize, everything from cactuses to algae qualify as plants. Like the venus fly trap, some even consume insects and make up a small subset of carnivorous plants. Below are some quotes, sayings, and wise words about plants that show appreciation for their uniqueness.
Related read: Leaf Quotes.
"If a tree dies, plant another in its place."
- Carolus Linnaeus
"It's fair to say when you go out and walk in the woods or on a beach, the most conspicuous forms of life you will see are plants and animals, and certainly there's a huge diversity of those types of organisms, perhaps 10 million animal species and several hundred thousand plant species."
- Andrew H. Knoll
"Algae is the perfect food plant. It doubles cell mass every twelve hours, depending on the strain."
- Homaro Cantu
"A healthy plant is one that adapts best to the situation in which it finds itself. There is no objective measure of this."
- Monty Don
"I see humanity now as one vast plant, needing for its highest fulfillment only love, the natural blessings of the great outdoors, and intelligent crossing and selection."
- Luther Burbank
"Pretty much every plant and animal alive today is the result of eons of natural cross-breeding."
- Neil deGrasse Tyson
Planting seeds quotes
The famous saying “what you sow is what you reap” can be interpreted literally or figuratively. Below are planting seeds quotes that reflect on the germination of everything from ideas to life itself.
Related: Seed quotes.
"Whatever seeds each man cultivates will grow to maturity and bear in him their own fruit. If they be vegetative, he will be like a plant."
- Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
"Plant the seed of desire in your mind and it forms a nucleus with power to attract to itself everything needed for its fulfillment."
- Robert Collier
"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed... Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders."
- Henry David Thoreau
"If we plant the right seeds, tomorrow will be better. If you put out good things, then you'll get good things back. That's part of our responsibility as entertainers."
- Ben Vereen
"Whatever kind of seed is sown in a field, prepared in due season, a plant of that same kind, marked with the peculiar qualities of the seed, springs up in it."
- Guru Nanak
Plant sayings and quotes from the arts and literature
Are you a lover of plants and also the arts? Below are some plant quotes from some well-known names. You can take inspiration from them.
"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."
- Martin Luther
"I don't think that you can possibly embrace the kind of joy which one who has worked with plants and plant structures such as I have over a period of nearly 40 years, how wonderful the plant laboratory seems."
- Percy Julian
"From dead plant matter to nematodes to bacteria, never underestimate the cleverness of mushrooms to find new food!"
- Paul Stamets
"An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture."
- Jean Cocteau
"A writer is like a bean plant - he has his little day, and then gets stringy."
- E. B. White
“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
| 1 | Lee MS, Lee J, Park BJ, Miyazaki Y. Interaction with indoor plants may reduce psychological and physiological stress by suppressing autonomic nervous system activity in young adults: a randomized crossover study. J Physiol Anthropol. 2015 Apr 28;34(1):21. doi: 10.1186/s40101-015-0060-8. PMID: 25928639; PMCID: PMC4419447. |
| 2 | Lee MS, Lee J, Park BJ, Miyazaki Y. Interaction with indoor plants may reduce psychological and physiological stress by suppressing autonomic nervous system activity in young adults: a randomized crossover study. J Physiol Anthropol. 2015 Apr 28;34(1):21. doi: 10.1186/s40101-015-0060-8. PMID: 25928639; PMCID: PMC4419447. |
| 3 | Lohr, V. I. (2009, June). What are the benefits of plants indoors and why do we respond positively to them?. In II International Conference on Landscape and Urban Horticulture 881 (pp. 675-682). |
| 4 | Lockhart, B., Sharp, P., Hillock, D., Mitchell, S., & Quetone Moss, J. (2020, November). Basic Plant Care: Understanding Your Plant’s Needs |
Jen’s a passionate environmentalist and sustainability expert. With a science degree from Babcock University Jen loves applying her research skills to craft editorial that connects with our global changemaker and readership audiences centered around topics including zero waste, sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity.
Elsewhere Jen’s interests include the role that future technology and data have in helping us solve some of the planet’s biggest challenges.
