The Man Who Planted Trees Quotes

“For a human character to reveal truly exceptional qualities, one must have the good fortune to be able to observe its performance over many years. If this performance is devoid of all egoism, if its guiding motive is unparalleled generosity, if it is absolutely certain that there is no thought of recompense and that, in addition, it has left its visible mark upon the earth, then there can be no mistake.”
― Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees

“On comprenait que les hommes pourraient être aussi efficaces que Dieu dans d'autres domaines que la destruction.”
― Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees

“Creation seemed to come about in a sort of chain reaction. He did not worry about it; he was determinedly pursuing his task in all its simplicity; but as we went back towards the village I saw water flowing in Brooks that had been dry since the memory of man. This was the most impressive result of chain reaction that I had seen. These dry streams had once, long ago, run with water.”
― Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees

“One cannot properly appreciate this rare character unless one remembers that he accomplished what he did in complete solitude”
― Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees

“There are also times in life when a person has to rush off in pursuit of hopefulness.”
― Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees

“Si uno quiere descubrir cualidades realmente excepcionales en el carácter de un ser humano, debe tener el tiempo o la oportunidad de observar su comportamiento durante varios años. Si este comportamiento no es egoísta, si está presidido por una generosidad sin límites, si es tan obvio que no hay afán de recompensa, y además ha dejado una huella visible en la tierra, entonces no cabe equivocación posible.”
― Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees

“He'd been planting trees in the wilderness for 3 years. He'd planted a hundred thousand of them. Out of those, twenty thousand had come up. Of the twenty thousand he expected to lose half, because of rodents or the unpredictable ways of Providence. That still meant ten Thousand Oaks would grow where before there had been nothing.”
― Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees