The Oaks complained to Jupiter about being cut so often. Jupiter told them they make excellent structures; if they did not then they would be cut less.
Men make their own fate.
Townsend version
The oaks presented a complaint to Jupiter, saying, “We bear for no purpose the burden of life, as of all the trees that grow we are the most continually in peril of the axe.” Jupiter made answer: “You have only to thank yourselves for the misfortunes to which you are exposed: for if you did not make such excellent pillars and posts, and prove yourselves so serviceable to the carpenters and the farmers, the axe would not so frequently be laid to your roots.”
[Note: The Perry index links this fable with The Trees and The Axe.]
Perry #302