“A tree grows into the air because it grows out of the air. The bulk of the tree is not made from the soil beneath- indeed, the soil is in large part made by the tree. Both soil and tree are made from the sun and wind and rain. The land is just a place to stand.”

“Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree.”

“On rich soils only abundant harvests of produce for ordinary consumption grow. On poor soils the most misshapen trees, and flowers of the rarest, the subtlest colours and scents are to be found.”

“Leaves turned to soil beneath my feet. Thus it is, trees eat themselves.”

“The tree that never had to fightfor sun and sky and air and lightbut stood out in the open plainand always got it share of rain,never became a forest kingbut lived and died a scrubby thing.Good timber does not grow with ease.The stronger wind, the stronger trees. ”

“Soon the trees affected not only her mood but her understanding. Each year a trunk put on a new ring of growth, and within those rings she found the tree's own story. She listened to the scent of it, the feel, the sound, and her mind gave it words- soil, water, sap, light...and before, night and rain, dry and sun, wind and night...the drowsy stillness of leaves in a rainfall, the sparkling eagerness of leaves in the sun, and always the pulling up of the branches, the tugging down of the roots, the forever growing in tow directions, joing sky and soil, and a center to keep it strong...-Rin, Forest Born”