One of my core childhood memories is planting trees with my classmates as part of our graduation requirement. We planted local trees in a forest and mangroves along the seashore where sea turtles lay their eggs. The sense of fulfillment and being one with nature filled our hearts. And to this day, I always support businesses and influencers who initiate tree-planting activities. I hope our list of tree-planting quotes will inspire more people to do it.
You might think one tree cannot significantly change the decreasing number of forests worldwide, but let's learn a lesson from The Forest Man of India. Since 1979, Jadav Payeng has started planting one tree a day. And today, his forest changed the lifeless view of a dry sandbar to a luscious green full of trees. So, after reading all our tree planting quotes below, explore some of the other notable tree-planting projects around the world or consider supporting brands that plant trees.
Quick links to our selection of tree planting quotes:
Since grade school, we have learned how plants exchange carbon dioxide and turn it into the oxygen we need for life on earth. Trees are the lungs of our planet, yet we have lost forests to deforestation for decades.
According to the 2022 edition of The State of the World's Forests (SOFO), deforestation abolished 420 million hectares between 1990 and 2020. It may lead to developments, but it also started a domino effect in the ecosystem, not only climate change but also the dwindling numbers of animal species.
After reading the best tree planting quotes below, for further reading, check out our article exploring how effective tree planting is against climate change, and you can read up more about the deforestation facts that provoke the need to protect and conserve the trees.
"He who plants a tree. Plants a hope."
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
"Reversing deforestation is complicated; planting a tree is simple."
"To exist as a nation, to prosper as a state, to live as a people, we must have trees."
Trees near the equator reach their full height around 10 to 20 years, and trees further than the equator can mature over 100 years. In short, the trees we plant today will significantly benefit future generations, not us. That's why we should teach children the importance of trees as soon as they start understanding so they can continue taking care of what we have planted.
If the little environmentalists in your family or community have potential ideas, help them apply for the Little Tree Huggers Grant Funding by One Tree Planted.
Get inspired and inspire others with tree planting quotes below. For more reading, you might also like our nature quotes, tree quotes, and gardening quotes.
"Trees exhale for us so that we can inhale them to stay alive. Can we ever forget that? Let us love trees with every breath we take until we perish."
"He that plants trees, loves others besides himself."
"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."
"When trees burn, they leave the smell of heartbreak in the air."
"The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardner objected that the tree was slow growing and wouldn't reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!'"
"If a tree dies, plant another in its place."
"People who will not sustain trees will soon live in a world that will not sustain people."
"I feel a great regard for trees; they represent age and beauty and the miracles of life and growth."
Nature has always positively impacted our total well-being. Trees in nature are no exception, and they can even help the whole community. In the 1980s, the Japanese started practicing shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, to meditate and relax.
Aside from its environmental and psychological benefits, planting trees like giant oaks can also increase your property's value. Residential properties in Athens, Georgia, had a 3.5%-4.5% increase in sales prices as a result of their trees.
Trees mean so much in our lives in various ways. Read the next set of tree planting quotes below that will motivate you to grow one, or have a read on how nature benefits our mental health.
"I'm planting a tree to teach me to gather strength from my deepest roots."
"You can’t have the fruits without the roots."
"The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit."
"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."
"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."
"Of all man's works of art, a cathedral is greatest. A vast and majestic tree is greater than that."
"A tree falls the way it leans."
"Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come."
"I said to the almond tree, ‘Friend, speak to me of God,' and the almond tree blossomed."
"In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike."
"This solitary Tree! A living thing produced too slowly ever to decay; of form and aspect too magnificent to be destroyed."
One of the prominent tree lovers we should know about is the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. He has planted thousands of trees on his family estate, became a Chairman of the Forestry Committee of the New York Senate, and developed sustainable ways to use timber in his lifetime. And after he passed, his legacy continued. The National Park Service has collaborated with other organizations to save much of the historic forest lands the tree farmer built.
Do you want to witness how a tree grows in your own backyard? Read the rest of our tree planting quotes below and start digging!
"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."
"The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased; and not impaired in value."
"Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."
"For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver."
"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."
"The best friend on earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth."
"You know me, I think there ought to be a big old tree right there. And let’s give him a friend. Everybody needs a friend."