Hal Borland

“October is the fallen leaf, but it is also a wider horizon more clearly seen. It is the distant hills once more in sight, and the enduring constellations above them once again.”

“Summer is a promissory note signed in June, its long days spent and gone before you know it, and due to be repaid next January.”

“The ultimate wisdom which deals with beginnings, remains locked in a seed. There it lies, the simplest fact of the universe and at the same time the one which calls faith rather than reason.”

“A woodland in full color is awesome as a forest fire, in magnitude at least, but a single tree is like a dancing tongue of flame to warm the heart.”

“Here and there one sees the blush of wild rose haws or the warmth of orange fruit on the bittersweet, and back in the woods is the occasional twinkle of partridgeberries. But they are the gem stones, the rare decorations which make the grays, the browns and the greens seem even more quiet, more completely at rest.”

“Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night.”

“You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet.”

“A snowdrift is a beautiful thing - if it doesn't lie across the path you have to shovel or block the road that leads to your destination.”

“If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.”

“Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.”

“April is a promise that May is bound to keep.”

“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”

“Man is wise and constantly in quest of more wisdom; but the ultimate wisdom, which deals with beginnings, remains locked in a seed. There it lies, the simplest fact of the universe and at the same time the one which calls forth faith rather than reason.”

“Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.”