In the design for contentment which is the basis for Chinese philosophy, every individual possesses that which in his own mind is a garden. The Chinese feel that unless a man has a garden, he scarcely grasps the reason for existence.
– Chinese Proverb

A garden is a work of art. It is also a number of other things, such as a place for rest and recreation, and the pursuit of horticulture, but to be a garden in the true sense of the term it must first be an aesthetic composition.
– Christopher Tunnard

A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.
– Gertrude Jekyll

A garden is no different than a relationship or a job or life in general—it has to maintain your interest on a daily, weekly, and seasonal basis or else it loses its challenge.
– Joel M. Lerner

A garden is much more than a collection or assemblage of plants, it is the concrete manifestation of your ideas and your life, in short who you are and what you do.
– Tres Fromme

What is a garden? Not a perennial bed or border—that is comparable to mistaking a couch for a room. Think about the room first, and then decide how you will furnish it.
– Bunny Williams

For me a garden is a place, planted or not, that is set apart by some type of enclosure, and whose elements have been arranged according to certain principles: either natural, functional, horticultural, architectural, philosophical, or aesthetic.
– Julie Messervy

If you wish to make anything grow, you must understand it, and understand it in a very real sense. 'Green fingers' are a fact, and a mystery only to the unpracticed. But green fingers are the extensions of a verdant heart.
– Russell Page

The great challenge for the garden designer is not to make the garden look natural, but to make the garden so the people in it will feel natural.
-Lawrence Halprin

A sense of place is the soul of the garden. It is the intangible and harmonious atmosphere that stems from a perfect balance between the house, garden, landscape, plants and, most importantly, the dreams of the owner.
– Arne Maynard

When we landscape with nature, we evoke favorite natural places through our use of wood, water, plants, and stones. Although based on actual landscape features, the garden will also become a map of the gardener's own likes and dislikes--a landscape that begins in the mind.
– Jeff Cox

To see the universe within a place is to see a garden; to see it so is to have a garden; not to prevent its happening is to build a garden.
– James Rose

I wish I could convey to you the inner peace to be gained from spending a few hours each day in a garden. It is as though you were entering some secret domain, sitting at some traditional fireside. Such gardens enable us to experience beauty regularly, so that it becomes our daily bread. Unconsciously, with no particular effort, we begin to meditate, and all stress falls away.
– Luis Barragan

I think the basic difference between art and design is that design solves problems, while art raises questions.
- W. Gary Smith