50 Acorn Quotes on the Small Nut with Big Potential

By Stephanie Kirby

Writer, Entrepreneur and Inspirational quote curator

Published August 15, 2023

Firm your roots and reach toward the sky with these delightful acorn quotes.

Acorns are nuts that fall from oak trees and usually contain one seed.

The seed is usually contained within a tough, hard shell that ranges from one to six centimeters long.

Depending on the species of acorn, it can take 5 to 24 months to mature.

Acorns are too heavy for the wind to disperse to grow new trees, so they rely on birds and squirrels to displace them in areas with sunlight and water to grow.

Wildlife that depends on acorns as a food source are:

Deer
Pigs
Birds
Bears
Squirrels

Take a few moments to read these acorn quotes to learn more about this vital nut!

The Best Acorn Quotes

Check out some of the best quotes about Acorns!

1. “Acorns are planted silently by some unnoticed breeze.” — Thomas Carlyle

2. “The boughs of the oak are roaring inside the acorn.” — Charles Tomlinson

3. “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. “An infinity of forest lies dormant within the dreams on one acorn.” — Wayne Dyer

5. “The tallest oak tree once was an acorn that any pig could have swallowed.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

6. “The acorn becomes an oak by means of automatic growth; no commitment is necessary.” — Rollo May

7. “Every noble achievement is a dream before it is a reality, just as the oak is an acorn before it is a tree.” — Patience Strong

8. “The acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding.” — Dieter F. Uchtdorf

9. “The humble acorn teaches us that the greatest things often come from the smallest beginnings.” — The Druid’s Garden

10. “Each human being is bred with a unique set of potentials that yearn to be fulfilled as surely as the acorn yearns to become the oak within it.” — Aristotle

Inspirational Acorn Quotes

These acorn quotes will inspire the greatness inside of you.

11. “One generation plants the trees, another gets the shade.” — Chinese proverb

12. “Before the acorn can bring forth the oak, it must become itself a wreck.” — Hannah Whitall Smith

13. “The tallest oak tree once was an acorn that any pig could have swallowed.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

14. “It takes time for an acorn to turn into an oak, but the oak is already implied in the acorn.” — Alan Watts

15. “Just as the acorn contains the mighty oak tree, the Self has everything it needs to fulfill its destiny.” — Derek Rydall

16. “An oak starts as an acorn, a bird as an egg, a forest as a seed. Everything starts small.” — Matshona Dhliwayo

17. “For their entire lives, even before they met you, your mother and father held their love for you inside their hearts like an acorn holds an oak tree.” — Anthony Marra

18. “The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.” — James Allen

19. “The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It’s the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.” — Napoleon Hill

20. “Our ordinary mind always tries to persuade us that we are nothing but acorns and that our greatest happiness will be to become bigger, fatter, shinier acorns, but that is of interest only to pigs. Our faith gives us knowledge of something better: that we can become oak trees.” — E. F. Schumacher

Famous Acorn Quotes

Enjoy some of the most famous acorn quotes!

21. “Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and again.” — Will Smith

22. “An optimist is a man who plants two acorns and buys a hammock.” — Jean de Lattre de Tassigny

23. “The mighty oak from an acorn towers; A tiny seed can fill a field with flowers.’” — Winston Churchill

24. “Genius unexerted is no more genius than a bushel of acorns is a forest of oaks.” — Henry Ward Beecher

25. “I can see in the acorn the oak tree. I see the growth, the rebuilding, the restoring.” — Maya Angelou

26. “You cannot plant an acorn in the morning and expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of an oak.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

27. “Mighty oaks from little acorns grow, but if the sapling doesn’t grow right, it’s hard to fix it when it’s grown into a tree.” — Jodi Picoult

28. “When the oak is felled, the whole forest echoes with it fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze.” — Thomas Carlyle

29. “Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn! You bury it in the ground, and it explodes into an oak! Bury a sheep, and nothing happens but decay.” — George Bernard Shaw

30. “There is nothing more lovely in life than the union of two people whose love for one another has grown through the years, from the small acorn of passion, into a great rooted tree” — Vita Sackville-West

Acorn Quotes About Being a Food Source

As seen in the following quotes, acorns are used as a food source by both humans and animals.

31. “Acorns were good until bread was found.” — Francis Bacon

32. “Acorns are a sustainable and nutritious food source that can be foraged for free in many areas.” — Homestead Honey

33. “Acorns are a great source of energy and were used by ancient civilizations as a food for soldiers and explorers.” — Science Daily

34. “Acorns can be used as a coffee substitute, roasted and ground into a powder that can be brewed like coffee.” — Mother Earth News

35. “Acorns have been used as a food source for thousands of years, and were a staple food for many Native American tribes.” — Sierra Club

36. “Acorns are a versatile food that can be used in a variety of dishes, from savory stews to sweet desserts.” — Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

37. “Acorns are one of the most nutritionally rich foods available in the wild. They contain high amounts of protein, healthy fats, and minerals.” — The Forager Chef

38. “Acorns are an important part of the ecosystem, providing food for a variety of animals, including squirrels, deer, and birds.” — The National Wildlife Federation

39. “Acorns are an important food source for many Native American tribes, who grind them into flour and use them to make bread, porridge, and other dishes.” — National Museum of the American Indian

40. “Acorns are not only edible but delicious. Once the tannins are removed, they can be ground into a fine flour that can be used in bread, muffins, and even pancakes.” — David Suzuki

More of the Best Acorn Quotes

Check out some more great acorn quotes!

41. “An acorn would never brag about giving shade.” — Tim Cook

42. “I shall weave a suit of leaves. At once. With acorns for buttons.” — Shirley Jackson

43. “I love acorns. I just love them. They’re like tiny oak trees that you can eat.” — Neil Gaiman

44. “Sometimes big trees grow out of acorns – I think I heard that from a squirrel.” — Jerry Coleman

45. “Is the acorn better than the oak which is its fullness and completion?” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

46. “Acorns were good enough for me when I was a kid, and they’re good enough for me now.” — Jon Krakauer

47. “Oak trees come out of acorns, no matter how unlikely that seems. An acorn is just a tree’s way back into the ground.” — Shirley Ann Grau

48. The squirrel has not yet found the acorn that will grow to the oak that will be cut to form the cradle of the babe that will grow to slay me.” — Neil Gaiman

49. “I think character never changes; the Acorn becomes an Oak, which is very little like an Acorn to be sure, but it never becomes an Ash.” — Hester Lynch Piozzi

50. “Only something as insane as human beings would ever asked themselves if ‘I’m good.’ You don’t find oak trees having existential crisis. ‘I feel so rotten about myself. I don’t produce as much acorns as the one next to me.’” — Adyashanti