Quotes For Gardeners

Morning, Dawn, Sunrise, Daybreak

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Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo

From the Spirit of Gardening Website

Morning is the best of all times in the garden. The sun is not yet hot.
Sweet vapors rise from the earth. Night dew clings to the soil
and makes plants glisten. Birds call to one another.
Bees are already at work.
- William Longgood

The stillness of the early morning scene enables me to take in and enjoy many
things which pass me by during the bustle of the day. First, there are the scents,
which seem even more generous with their offerings than they are in the evening.
- Rosemary Verey

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The difference between rising at five and seven o'clock in the
morning, for forty years, supposing a man to go to bed at the
same hour at night, is nearly equivalent to the addition of
ten years to a man's life.
- Doddridge

Whether I retire to bed early or
late, I rise with the sun.
- Thomas Jefferson
Mr. Jefferson rose early everyday for 50 years.

Next to temperance, a quiet conscience, a cheerful mind, and active
habits, I place early rising as a means of health and happiness.
- Flint

Aurora Musis amica.
Dawn is friend of the muses.

Morning glory is the best name,
it always refreshes me to see it.
- Henry David Thoreau

Angels in the early morning may be seen the
dews among.
Stooping, plucking, smiling, flying.
Do the buds to them belong?
- Emily Dickinson

Aurora hail, and all the thousand dies,
Which deck thy progress through the vaulted skies:
The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays,
On ev'ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays;
Harmonious lays the feather'd race resume,
Dart the bright eye, and shake the painted plume.
- Phyllis Wheatley, A Hymn to the Morning

Early rising not only gives us more life in the same number of years,
but adds, likewise, to their number; and not only enables us to enjoy
more of existence in the same time, but increases also the measure.
- C. C. Colton

I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God
it would be in a garden at the cool of the day.
- F. Frankfort Moore

When in the fresh mornings I go into
my garden before anyone is awake,
I go for the time being into perfect happiness.
- Cecilia Thaxter

Waking up in the morning, I vow with all beings
to be ready for sparks of the Dharma
from flowers or children or birds.
- Robert Aitken

And even the sun
in dawn chorus sings,
a celestial melody to the earth
below.
- Tjaden

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is
to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
- Marcus Aurelius

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
- Rumi

Poems writen upon awakening at dawn are called aubades.

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His Heaven;
All's right with the world!
- Robert Browning

In the morning, everything is new.
The day's blank slate lies before me,
ready for my writing.
May it be words of beauty I write.
May it be deeds of grace I do.
May it be thoughts of joy I think.
All the Holy Ones, Listen;
this is what I pray.
Great Spirits of the Four Realms,
Holy Ones of the Realms of Minds,
Kindreds of Yore,
as I go through the day,
keep my eyes open wide.
May I not miss beauty.
May I not miss joy.
May I not miss wonder.
Keep me awake and aware of the world.
It is my privilege to perform my morning prayers.
It is my honor to do what should be done.
As I rise with the morning, fog lifting slowly for my mind,
I pray not to forget these truths.
Awen.
- Ceisiwr Serith, Book of Pagan Prayer, p. 126

What humbugs we are, who pretend to live for Beauty,
and never see the Dawn!
- Logan Pearsall Smith

This gardener will be out in the very early morning and from late afternoon,
attentive to small changes in the quality of light and the atmosphere, as well
as to every nuance of the season, which combine to create perfection.
- Susan Hill and Rory Stuart, Reflections from a Garden, 1995

With the first gleam of morning rays, the garden is a prism
of a thousand hues refracted in tiny does of crystal dew, a
dazzling quilt of millefleur colors covering
the sleeping flower beds.
- Duane Michals, The Vanishing Act

Colours change; in the morning light, red shines out bright and clear
and the blues merge into their surroundings, melting into the greens;
but by evening the reds loose their piquancy, embracing a quieter tone
and shifting toward the blues in the rainbow. Yellow flowers remain
bright, and white ones become luminous, shining like ghostly figures
against a darkening green background.
- Rosemary Verey, The Scented Garden, 1981

I welcome this new day.
It is a gift to me, a new creation, a promise of resurrection.
Greetings to the Four Realms, the Goddesses and Gods, and the Kindred of Yore.
I salute the Sun, the Earth, the Seas, and the Sky.
I am thankful for being alive this morning.
Thankful for the sleep that has refreshed me.
May my hands do the good work.
May my eyes see the truth.
May I speak compassionately.
May I make the world a better place this day.
Awen.

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