25 Homesteading Quotes To Empower And Inspire
From the founding fathers to more modern day pioneers of the regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and homesteading movements, there is no shortage of places to look for inspiration on your homesteading journey. We have compiled a list of 25 of our favorite homesteading quotes that have inspired us to pursue this lifestyle.
Several of the individuals quoted here were featured in the book, Letters to a Young Farmer. This is a favorite book of ours and one that was particularly inspiring and helpful as we were beginning to contemplate homesteading and farming in our lives. And it gave us tons of inspiring homesteading quotes that we have been ruminating on ever since. Head to the bottom of this post to learn more about our story and homesteading resources!
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Our Top Homesteading Quotes
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” –Theodore Roosevelt
“Agriculture is the greatest and fundamentally the most important of our industries. The cities are but the branches of the tree of national life, the roots of which go deeply into the land. We all flourish or decline with the farm.” –Bernard Baruch
“Strong communities are built around local, real food. Food we trust to nourish our bodies, the farmer and planet.” –Kimbal Musk
“Why does no one speak of the cultural advantages of the country? For example, is a well-groomed, ecologically kept, sustainably fertile farm any less cultural, any less artful, than paintings of fat angels on church ceilings?” –Gene Logsdon
“Our land is like a poem, in a patchwork landscape of other poems, written by hundreds of people, both those here now and the many hundreds who came before us, with each generation adding new layers of meaning and experience.” –James Rebanks
“Farms and food production should be, I submit, at least as important as who pierced their navel in Hollywood this week. Please tell me I’m not the only one who believes this. Please. As a culture, we think we’re well educated, but I’m not sure that what we’ve learned necessarily helps us survive.” –Joel Salatin
“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.” –Andy Warhol
“We must begin making long-term, permanent change in a world of short-term thinking. In a world impatient for a quick fix, we must continue to make the long, steady progress needed toward a rich, green, abundant world, started by planting one tree at a time and repeated over and over around the world.” –Mark Shepherd
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” –Helen Keller
“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.” –Robin Wall Kimmerer
“A farm is a manipulative creature. There is no such thing as finished. Work comes in a stream and has no end. There are only things that must be done now and things that can be done later.” –Kristin Kimball
“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” –Thomas Jefferson
“We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist.” –Wendell Berry
“Do what you love to do, and be around things that make you smile. The cows make me smile every day.” –David Jackson
“The fight to save family farms isn’t just about farmers. It’s about making sure that there is a safe and healthy food supply for all of us. It’s about jobs, from Main Street to Wall Street. It’s about a better America.” –Willie Nelson
“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” –Laura Ingalls Wilder
“You can solve all the world’s problems in a garden.” –Geoff Lawton
“When we traded homemaking for careers, we were implicitly promised economic independence and worldly influence. But a devil of a bargain it has turned out to be in terms of daily life. We gave up the aroma of warm bread rising, the measured pace of nurturing routines, the creative task of molding our families’ tastes and zest for life; we received in exchange the minivan and the Lunchable.” –Barbara Kingsolver
“Some people buy lottery tickets. I plant potatoes.” –Jill Winger
“Despite all of our accomplishments, we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” –Paul Harvey
“I think America’s food culture is embedded in fast-food culture. And the real question that we have is: How are we going to teach slow-food values in a fast-food world? Of course, it’s very, very difficult to do, especially when children have grown up eating fast food and the values that go with that.” –Alice Waters
“Ultimately, the only wealth that can sustain any community, economy, or nation is derived from the photosynthetic process – green plants growing on regenerating soil.” –Allan Savory
“Is there any practice less selfish, any time less wasted than preparing something nourishing and delicious for the people you love?” –Michael Pollan
“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” –Mahatma Gandhi
“Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.” –Simon Sinek
More Inspiration for your Homesteading Journey
We are believers that homesteading is a mindset and a way of life that you can strive toward wherever you are at. Our own journey started in the suburbs and then led to our current 5 acre homestead. So, in addition to these homesteading quotes, check out these other great resources to pull inspiration from in your homestead journey:
Homesteading Resources | Where To Begin In Your Homesteading Journey
Buying a Homestead on a Budget
Urban Homesteading | 25 Ways To Begin Today
Setting Up A Homestead Budget For One Small Income
14 Frugal Homestead Ideas
Farm vs. Homestead vs. Farmstead | What They Are and How To Choose
Top 10 Resources and Tips for Finding Farmland
And if you’re at the stage where you’re searching for the right homestead property, we share our own search story and what we learned along the way in this video.
