Because of the intellectual stimulation and therapeutic benefits it provides, gardening has long attracted some of the world’s greatest thinkers. As a result, there is a wide variety of insightful, beautiful quotes about the gardening experience.
Gardening can be frustrating, but sometimes all you need is an inspirational quote to remind you why you started gardening in the first place, whether it is to get in touch with nature or for some greater spiritual release.
Here are 10 of our favorite quotes about gardening to start the season from writers and thinkers from around the world and different historical periods.
Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero was one of the most influential orators and philosophers of the ancient world. Even he could see the value of a garden — equal to that of a library, where he certainly spent many hours a day working on speeches, letters and prose — for maintaining a balanced life and a stimulated mind.
Mexican architect and engineer Luis Barragán had a surprisingly ethereal side for someone whose career is defined by clean and colorful modernist designs. This quote encapsulates the quiet moments of bliss that we love most about an afternoon in the garden.
Margaret Atwood may be best known now as the author of the “Handmaid’s Tale,” but this Canadian writer and inventor is also a noted environmental activist. This quip on gardening shows how important she sees active participation in the natural world that she seeks to protect.
Famed British horticulturist and landscape architect Gertrude Jekyll knows a thing or two about the power of gardening. She created more than 400 gardens throughout the United States, United Kingdom and Europe. Needless to say her love of of gardening — and ours — has germinated successfully.
English poet Alfred Austin’s descriptive words paint a perfect picture of what it is like to spend a long day engaging with all your senses in the garden. Even though tending to a garden is, in part, nurturing your plants, we love that Austin recognizes the reciprocal nature of the gardener-garden relationship through this quote.
American author Alice Sebold’s seemingly paradoxical quote about gardening and the joy of the escapism it provides.
British poet Minnie Aumonier’s perfectly captures the escapism we love most about gardening as a respite from the hustle and bustle of modern society.
Audrey Hepburn is famously glamorous, but this British actress, model and humanitarian had a quiet, poetic side as well. Her thoughts on garden show the hope that it provides.
American journalist and novelist Mary Cantwell knew something about big dreams. She served on the editorial board of the New York Times for sixteen years. Even though the journalist was used to the fast-paced New York City life, she had a profound appreciation for gardeners.
We couldn’t agree more, May Sarton. This American poet, novelist and memoirist’s quote helps put those little failures in the garden into persepctive.
What are your favorite gardening quotes? Add them to the comments below.