It is quite affecting to observe how much the olive tree is to the country people. Its fruit supplies them with food medicine and light; its leaves, winter fodder for the goats and sheep; it is their shelter from the heat and its branches an roots supple them with firewood. the olive tree is the peasant’s all-in-all. – Fredrika Bremer

The whole Mediterranean, the sculpture, the palms, the gold bead, the bearded heroes,, the wine, the ideas, the ships, the moonlight, the winged gorgons, the bronze men, the philosophers — all of it seems to rise in the sour, pungent smell of these black olives between the teeth. A taste older than meat, older than wine. A taste as old as cold water. – Lawrence Durrell