# Quote — Véronique Tadjo, In the Company of Men

> We were here to last. We were here to spread our shade over the remotest lands. We were here so our foliage would murmur the secrets of the four corners of the world. But human beings have destroyed our hopes. No matter where in the world they are, they wage war on the forest. Our trunks crash to the ground with a sound like thunder. Our naked roots mourn the end of our dreams. You cannot destroy the forest without spilling blood.

- Author: [Véronique Tadjo](https://www.leafyquotes.com/veronique-tadjo.md)
- Book: [In the Company of Men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/veronique-tadjo/in-the-company-of-men.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A9ronique_Tadjo#In_the_Company_of_Men_(2017)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/veronique-tadjo/in-the-company-of-men/we-were-here

## More from this book

> Colonizing space with enormous rockets will almost certainly not be a lifeline for them. For if they haven't learned to live here, how can they possibly survive in the distant Beyond? (XV)

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/veronique-tadjo/in-the-company-of-men/colonizing-space-with.md)

> Humans today think they can do whatever they like. They fancy themselves as masters, as architects of nature.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/veronique-tadjo/in-the-company-of-men/humans-today-think.md)

> What one does is never enough. I don't want this challenge we're facing to defeat us. I want to do my bit, I want future generations to understand how hard we fought to stop the triumph of the unacceptable. (V)

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/veronique-tadjo/in-the-company-of-men/what-one-does.md)