Life without bonsai would be, well...
death. - bonsaiTALK

HAVE NO FEAR OF PERFECTION - You will 
never reach it. - Salvador Dali

Remember, if your tree died, ... you killed it.
They don't commit suicide.      - Hec DeBrabant

If a tree falls off my Bonsai bench, and I'm not
home to hear it, does it make a sound? - FlyBri

...the ultimate challenge for the bonsai designer
is to expose the essence of the tree. - Herb L. Gustafson

To wire or not to wire; that is the question! - Hamlet

A living, artistically created, idealized vision of a tree, cultivated in a container.  - Will Heath

...and the tree must look as if you never even touched it.  "As if it grew out of wind and sun
and time, pelting rain and soft mist, dark nights and silent owls wings." - Joanie

Bonsai art is the display of a landscape -- without the landscape.  - Nobu Kajiwara

To develop a fine Bonsai collection, make one hundred and keep two or three. - Nobu Kajiwara

Bonsai is an artistic representation of a natural tree.  It is an image, an illusion of nature.  It is
smoke and mirrors that defies the senses.  The best bonsai are magicians' tricks that have
fooled the eye into seeing a far off place in the distant past, or the side of a craggy cliff.  We
all have to strive to be the magician. - Al Keppler

If you just wnat to be in the backyard with your plants, try growing tomatoes.  They're cheaper
and you can eat your disappointments. - Al Keppler

A bonsai is a microcosm containing within it, unchanged in everything but size, the mystery
of the universe. - Colin Lewis

A problem branch is no problem once it is cut off. - Ron Martin

It takes just as much time, energy and money to dig up a tree that has a potential to be a nice
bonsai as it does to dig up one that doesn't. - Ron Martin

Think: tree. - Mr. Miyagi, The Karate Kid

The result; that comes after.  Your enjoyment is what is important. - John Naka

The bonsai is not you working on the tree; you have to have the tree work on you. - John Naka

If you can't find the front, instead find the back and then rotate it 180 degrees. - John Naka

It must have philosophy, botany, artistry, human quality behind it to be bonsai. - John Naka

Killing trees is the tuition you pay for learning bonsai. - John Naka

Listen to the tree; it tells you where it wants to go! - John Naka

The object is not to make the tree look like a bonsai, but to make the bonsai look like a tree. 
- John Naka

Bonsai to me:  a little tree in a container that touches my soul.  If it speaks to my soul much
it is bonsai art.  It does not matter at all how it does it as long as it does it. - Walter Pall

When a bonsai stops growing, you know it's dead. - Japanese Proverb

I have killed more trees than you will ever own...  - William N. Valavanis

Doing it right takes a long time; doing it wrong takes forever. - Gary Wood

When it's dead, it's dead. - Gary Wood

Did you grow this tree from seed? - An anonymous exhibit guest after learning the tree was 250 
years old, overheard by Herb L. Gustafson

Never underestimate the stubbornness of someone who is willing to wait years for the branch
to grow to the right thickness. - Overheard

A pot in the hand is better than one dropped on your foot. - Anonymous

The root of all evil is a rotten one. - Anonymous

The worth of a bonsai is the sum of all the idiots who have worked on it. - Anonymous

You spend more time with those $#@#% trees than you do with me. - Wife of Anonymous

My wife said I had to give up bonsai or she was going to leave me.  God, am I going to 
miss her. - Unknown