Luther Burbank

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.

The secret of improved plant breeding, apart from scientific knowledge, is love.

The scientist is a lover of truth for the very love of truth itself, wherever it may lead.

If we had paid no more attention to our plants than we have to our children, we would now be living in a jungle of weed.

Science is knowledge arranged and classified according to truth, facts, and the general laws of nature.

Less than fifteen per cent of the people do any original thinking on any subject. The greatest torture in the world for most people is to think.

We must return to nature and nature's god.

If you violate Nature's laws you are your own prosecuting attorney, judge, jury, and hangman.

It is well for people who think to change their minds occasionally in order to keep them clean. For those who do not think, it is best at least to rearrange their prejudices once in a while.

I see humanity now as one vast plant, needing for its highest fulfillment only love, the natural blessings of the great outdoors, and intelligent crossing and selection.

For those who do not think, it is best at least to rearrange their prejudices once in a while.

In the span of my own lifetime I observed such wondrous progress in plant evolution that I look forward optimistically to a healthy, happy world as soon as its children are taught the principles of simple and rational living.