Summer Rayne Oakes > Quotes

“To refer to plant care as a hobby diminishes the reality of what plants hold. Plants harness a constellation of powers that invite the intellect and incite the soul. On their surface they may simply please the eye, but beneath their stillness they hide a magnitude of depth and contradiction. They await and yearn for understanding. They strive, like any breathing being, to thrive, rather than to merely exist. This task is hardly simple. Plants evolve alongside an evolution in our perceptions. When we work to instill life into a plant, it may too instill life within us.”
― Summer Rayne Oakes, How to Make a Plant Love You: Cultivate Green Space in Your Home and Heart

“When you say the names of the plants,” he told me, “you say the names of the gods.”
― Summer Rayne Oakes, How to Make a Plant Love You: Cultivate Green Space in Your Home and Heart

“Unfortunately, the practice of leadership is so misunderstood. It has nothing to do with rank. It has nothing to do with authority. Those things may come with a leadership position—and they may help a leader operate with greater efficiency and at greater scale—but those things do not a leader make. Leadership is not about being in charge; it’s about taking care of those in our charge. It is a distinctly human endeavor. And part of what it takes to advance good leadership is to share the lessons, tools, and ideas that help each of us become the leaders we wish we had.”
― Summer Rayne Oakes, How to Make a Plant Love You: Cultivate Green Space in Your Home and Heart