--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Gardening is an excellent example of a…" description: "\"Gardening is an excellent example of a practice to which, as Alasdair MacIntyre puts it, certain virtues are 'internal'. Good gardening requires a cert..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b06/david-e-cooper-13916_care_gardening-is-an-excellent-example-of-a-p_2979412.jpg" --- # Gardening is an excellent example of a practice to which… ![“Gardening is an excellent example of a practice to which, as Alasdair MacIntyre puts it, certain virtues are 'internal'. Good gardening requires a certain goodness on the part of the gardener: care, humility, patience, and respect, for example.” quote by David E. Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b06/david-e-cooper-13916_care_gardening-is-an-excellent-example-of-a-p_2979412.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b06/david-e-cooper-13916_care_gardening-is-an-excellent-example-of-a-p_2979412.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b06/david-e-cooper-13916_care_gardening-is-an-excellent-example-of-a-p_2979412.jpg) > “Gardening is an excellent example of a practice to which, as Alasdair MacIntyre puts it, certain virtues are 'internal'. Good gardening requires a certain goodness on the part of the gardener: care, humility, patience, and respect, for example.” [David E. Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-e-cooper/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Gardening cultivates virtues like care, humility, patience, and respect, reflecting internal moral development. **In simple terms:** Gardening builds inner virtues. Key Takeaway Practice gardening to grow character. Themes virtue ethics mindfulness environmental stewardship Mood reflective educational Type philosophical practical When to use this quote - home gardening - community farms - educational programs Key Concepts Alasdair MacIntyre character formation Questions to Reflect On - How does gardening teach patience? - What virtues can you nurture elsewhere? A Different Perspective Not everyone can garden regularly. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Care](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/care/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Gardener](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gardener/) [Gardening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gardening/) [Goodness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goodness/) [Humility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humility/) [Patience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patience/) [Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) ## Related quotes > [Gardening requires lots of water... most of it in the form of perspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-erickson/gardening-requires-lots-of-water-most-of-it-in-the-form-of/) [Louise Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-erickson/) > [“You're not a gardener, are you? So perhaps you don't know that once a garden is established, much of good gardening is about removal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosalie-parker/you-re-not-a-gardener-are-you-so-perhaps-you-don-t-know-that-once-a/) Rosalie Parker > [The biggest obstacle to good gardening is the desire to know the answers and not the questions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monty-don/the-biggest-obstacle-to-good-gardening-is-the-desire-to-know-the/) [Monty Don](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monty-don/) > [Good gardening is very simple, really. You just have to learn to think like a plant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-damrosch/good-gardening-is-very-simple-really-you-just-have-to-learn-to-think/) [Barbara Damrosch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-damrosch/) > [I'm pretty good at gardening. It consumes my time, and it feels like I'm doing something constructive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-baker/i-m-pretty-good-at-gardening-it-consumes-my-time-and-it-feels-like-i/) [Simon Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-baker/) > [Was it not most meet that a woman should first see the risen Saviour? She was first in the transgression; let her be first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/was-it-not-most-meet-that-a-woman-should-first-see-the-risen-saviour/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/why-try-to-explain-miracles-to-your-kids-when-you-can-just-have-them/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [As a gardener, I wonder if flowers really can't speak or just exercise unfailing good judgment in the matter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/as-a-gardener-i-wonder-if-flowers-really-can-t-speak-or-just-exercise/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [I cultivate my garden, and my garden cultivates me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/i-cultivate-my-garden-and-my-garden-cultivates-me/) [Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/) > [Adam was a gardener, and God, who made him, sees that half of all good gardening is done upon the knees.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudyard-kipling/adam-was-a-gardener-and-god-who-made-him-sees-that-half-of-all-good/) [Rudyard Kipling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudyard-kipling/) > [“Virtue? A fig! 'Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. 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So I do stuff like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tristan-macmanus/i-know-when-i-m-not-dancing-and-i-go-home-i-usually-work-with-my-dad/) [Tristan MacManus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tristan-macmanus/) ## More by David E. Cooper > [What impressed me about Plato and Sartre was their conviction that we should live our lives in the light of big truths about reality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-e-cooper/what-impressed-me-about-plato-and-sartre-was-their-conviction-that-we/) [David E. Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-e-cooper/) > [The main objection to the 'scientistic' claim that physics describes the world as it is in itself is that you 'can't weed out' the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-e-cooper/the-main-objection-to-the-scientistic-claim-that-physics-describes/) [David E. 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Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-e-cooper/) > [I'm very sceptical about the prospects for 'big' environmental causes - 'saving the planet', halving the world's population, ending the exploitation of animals, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-e-cooper/i-m-very-sceptical-about-the-prospects-for-big-environmental-causes/) [David E. Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-e-cooper/) > [I think that Asian versions of 'ineffabilism' have an advantage over the best-known Western ones, like Schopenhauer's. They are free from the dualistic image…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-e-cooper/i-think-that-asian-versions-of-ineffabilism-have-an-advantage-over/) [David E. 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