Julia Butterfly Hill > Quotes

“All life is created in love, and thus in the depths of every human being lies a good heart. Some have lost their path from this love, so it up to us to show them the way.”
― Julia Butterfly Hill

“ when you see someone in a tree trying to protect it , you know that every level of our society have failed , the consumers have failed , the companies have failed , the government has failed . ”
― Julia Butterfly Hill, The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods

“If you’re the only person left, as long as your hope is committed in action, then hope is alive in the world.”
― Julia Butterfly Hill

“Nature's wisdom teaches us that where life is in motion, it's healthy; where it's stagnant, it's dying. But people have to interpret that journey in a way that's authentic for them . . . whatever helps you. We call it "finding your own true north"-- like on a compass. In production-drive societies, we're tricked into believing that true north is outside of us. So we're constantly looking outside ourselves to figure out if this is the right job, the right house, the right relationship, the right subject to be studying. But our true north is invariably inside us . . . if we do what we love to do, what we're inspired to do, what we believe in, it creates an entirely different response.”
― Julia Butterfly Hill

“I wake up in the morning asking myself what can I do today, how can I help the world today.”
― Julia Butterfly Hill

“The question is not “Can you make a difference?” You already do make a difference. It’s just a matter of what kind of a difference you want to make, during your life on this planet. (Taken from Black and Buddhist, thinking critically and teaching differently in the primary grades by Mary Cowhey)”
― Julia Butterfly Hill

“The trees in the storm don’t try to stand up straight and tall and erect. They allow themselves to bend and be blown with the wind. They understand the power of letting go,” continued the voice. “Those trees and those branches that try too hard to stand up strong and straight are the ones that break. Now is not the time for you to be strong, Julia, or you, too, will break. Learn the power of the trees. Let it flow. Let it go. That is the way you are going to make it through this storm. And that is the way to make it through the storms of life.”
― Julia Butterfly Hill, legacy of luna the story of a tree a woman and the struggle to save the redwoods

“Similarly, only once we let go of all we know, including all our self-centered concerns, and break free of the cocoons we spin around ourselves to shut out the world can we become the truly beautiful beings we are meant to be.”
― Julia Butterfly Hill, legacy of luna the story of a tree a woman and the struggle to save the redwoods

“That’s why activists go in and try to slow down the logging. They want some trees to be left standing by the time the regulatory agencies show up or the courts give a ruling.”
― Julia Butterfly Hill, legacy of luna the story of a tree a woman and the struggle to save the redwoods

“It was going against what I’d been learning here in Luna, that all living things have the right to be alive.”
― Julia Butterfly Hill, legacy of luna the story of a tree a woman and the struggle to save the redwoods

“I KNEW THAT if I continued to debate politics and science—and stayed in the mind instead of the heart and the spirit—it would always be about one side versus the other. We all understand love, however; we all understand respect, we all understand dignity, and we all understand compassion up to a certain point. But how could I convince the loggers to transfer those feelings that they might have for a human being to the forest? And how could I get them to let go of their stereotypes of me? Because in their mind, I was a tree-hugging, granola-eating, dirty, dreadlocked hippie environmentalist. They always managed to say this word with such disgust and disdain!”
― Julia Butterfly Hill, legacy of luna the story of a tree a woman and the struggle to save the redwoods

“Love in any language,
Straight from the heart,
Pulls us all together,
Never apart.”
― Julia Butterfly Hill, legacy of luna the story of a tree a woman and the struggle to save the redwoods

“True transformation occurs only when we can look at ourselves squarely and face our attachments and inner demons, free from the buzz of commercial distraction and false social realities. We have to retreat into our own cocoons and come face-to-face with who we are. We have to turn toward our own inner darkness. For only by abandoning its attachments and facing the darkness does the caterpillar's body begin to spread out and its light, beautiful wings begin to form.”
― Julia Butterfly Hill, Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman and the Struggle to Save the Redwoo