Quotes from Liberty Hyde Bailey

Science may eventually explain the world of How. The ultimate world of Why may remain for contemplation, philosophy, religion.

If it were possible for every person to own a tree and to care for it, the good results would be beyond estimation.

One's happiness depends less on what he knows than on what he feels.

Extension work is not exhortation. Nor is it exploitation of the people, or advertising of an institution, or publicity work for securing students. It is a plain, earnest, and continuous effort to meet the needs of the people on their own farms and in the localities.

I do not yet know why plants come out of the land or float in streams, or creep on rocks or roll from the sea. I am entranced by the mystery of them, and absorbed by their variety and kinds. Everywhere they are visible yet everywhere occult.

There is no excellence without labor. One cannot dream oneself into either usefulness or happiness.

Is there any progress in horticulture? If not, it is dead, uninspiring. We cannot live in the past good as it is; we must draw our inspiration from the future.