Home is Not Where You Live, it is Where You Are Happiest

For me, trees have always been the most profound teachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone.

In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree.

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach the ancient law of life.

Trees have long thoughts, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, we want to be nothing except a tree. That is home. That is happiness.

―Herman Hesse