Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows
how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning
and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law
of life.
So the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own
childish thoughts: Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are,
as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to
listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike
hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has
learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to
be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.”
~ Hermann Hesse
