I have always felt that the best gardens aspired to coppice and that the best woods have all the elements of the very best gardens.
Monty DonRead
I have learnt that gardens are like happiness: you cannot pursue them as an absolute thing or moment.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Happiness, like a garden, requires attention and cannot be merely chased as a goal.
In this quote, Monty Don suggests that happiness is not a destination that can be directly pursued or achieved. Instead, it's more akin to tending to a garden, where growth and fulfillment come from nurturing and appreciating the journey rather than fixating on a specific moment of joy.
Themes
HappinessGardenGrowthJourneyNurturing
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech on the value of life experiences, one could quote Monty Don to emphasize the importance of enjoying the process.
More from Monty Don
All quotes βI just think that gardening is about the future, a slow thing, that is deep and spiritual as well as spiritually rewarding.
Monty DonRead
Sweet peas should smell. Half the point of growing sweet peas is to cut them for the house; they should fill a room with an almost painful olfactory inarticulateness. But most sweet peas smell of nothing. This does not stop them being beautiful, but they are like food with no flavour.
Monty DonRead
Gardening is inevitably a process of constant, remorseless change. It is the constancy of that process that is so comforting, not any fixed moment.
Monty DonRead
I use the period between Christmas and New Year to potter about, think and completely change my mindset. In that easy no-man's-land between Boxing Day and New Year, loins are girded and mettle readied. It is time, as we voyagers bid farewell to the old year, to fare forward.
Monty DonRead
I am always more interested in people than plants. Nature doesn't make gardens, people make gardens. And the story of a garden is always the story of a person.
Monty DonRead
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I'm no Buddhist monk, and I can't say I'm in love with renunciation in itself, or traveling an hour or more to print out an article I've written, or missing out on the N.B.A. Finals. But at some point, I decided that, for me at least, happiness arose out of all I didn't want or need, not all I did.
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In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy. It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.
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The circus is the only fun you can buy that is good for you.
Ernest HemingwayRead