quotations about leaves
The fall of leaves is an emblem of the decline of life.
R. TREVOR
attributed, Day's Collacon
Do you know why the leaves change colour?... Before a tree sheds a leaf it pumps it full of all the poison it can't rid itself of otherwise. That red there--that's a man's skin blotching with burst veins after an assassin spikes his last meal with roto-weed. The poison spreading through him before he dies.
MARK LAWRENCE
Emperor of Thorns
Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.
MARTIN LUTHER
attributed, The Lutheran Witness, 1935
The woods are hush'd, their music is no more;
The leaf is dead, the yearning past away;
New leaf, new life--the days of frost are o'er;
New life, new love, to suit the newer day:
New loves are sweet as those that went before:
Free love--free field--we love but while we may.
ALFRED TENNYSON
Idylls of the King
The leaves do not change color from the blighting touch of the frost, but from the process of natural decay. They fall when the fruit has been ripened and their work is done. And their splendid change of coloring is but their graceful and beautiful surrender of life, when they have finished their summer offering of service to God and man.
TRYON EDWARDS
Light for the Day
We take it for granted that plants have green leaves for photosynthesis, but green vegetation may be a reflection of the solar spectrum on the Earth. Our sun is a G-class (yellow) star, which emits a peak spectrum in the visual range. Additionally, the Earth's atmosphere has a significant effect on the light reaching the ground, making it ideal for plants to absorb in blue or red. What if we discover a habitable planet around a different star? NASA and CalTech have already looked into this possibility. On a planet orbiting an F-class (yellow-white) star, which is somewhat hotter than the sun, photosynthesis will most likely concentrate on blue and green wavelengths, because that's where the energy peak will be. Leaves there will reflect mostly in yellow, orange, and red. It would be "fall" year-round, at least based on the coloration of Earth's vegetation.
STEVEN SPENCE
"Autumn Leaves: Last, Loveliest Smile", Got Science, October 27, 2015
So bright in death I used to say,
So beautiful through frost and cold!
A lovelier thing I know to-day,
The leaf is growing old,
And wears in grace of duty done,
The gold and scarlet of the sun.
MARGARET ELIZABETH SANGSTER
"A Maple Leaf"
Each particle of matter is an immensity, each leaf a world, each insect an inexplicable compendium.
JOHANN CASPAR LAVATER
Physiognomy
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
EMILY BRONTË
"Fall, Leaves, Fall"
There is not a single leaf which is a mere ornament; all contribute to the fruitfulness of the earth, and the support of its inhabitants.
CHRISTOPH CHRISTIAN STURM
Reflections on the Works of God and of His Providence
Where is the pride of Summer--the green prime--
The many, many leaves all twinkling?--three
On the mossed elm; three on the naked lime
Trembling--and one upon the old oak tree!
Where is the Dryad's immortality?
THOMAS HOOD
"Ode--Autumn"
Leaves are light, and useless, and idle, and wavering, and changeable; they even dance; yet God has made them part of oak; in so doing He has given us a lesson not to deny the stout-heartedness within, because we see the lightsomeness without.
JULIUS CHARLES HARE
attributed, Guesses at Truth
A tangerine and russet cascade of kaleidoscopic leaves, creates a tapestry of autumn magic upon the emerald carpet of fading summer.
JUDITH A. LINDBERG
The Organic View
I love the chill October days, when the brown leaves lie thick and sodden underneath your feet.
JEROME K. JEROME
"Silhouettes"
Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods,
And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt.
WILLIAM ALLINGHAM
"Autumnal Sonnet", Day and Night Songs
The gentle wind, a sweet and passionate wooer,
Kisses the blushing leaf.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
"Woods in Winter"
And softly through the altered air
Hurries a timid leaf.
EMILY DICKINSON
"Indian Summer"
Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower.
ALBERT CAMUS
attributed, Visions from Earth
The calm shade
Shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze
That makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balm
To thy sick heart.
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
"Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood"
Autumn is a season of desperate hopes. The leaves are souls begging to turn life on pause. Begging to stop, begging to take a break, hiding under smiles and childish words.
TEODORA SAVU
Listen to the Leaves