100 Inspiring John Muir Quotes on Nature, Wilderness, and Adventure

John Muir (1838-1914) was a renowned naturalist, environmentalist, and writer known for his deep connection with nature and his advocacy for the preservation of the wilderness.

"Words of Wisdom: John Muir's Insights on Nature and Wilderness"

Here are 100 quotes attributed to John Muir:

1. "In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks."

2. "The mountains are calling, and I must go."

3. "Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."

4. "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike."

5. "The power of imagination makes us infinite."

6. "Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another."

7. "The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us."

8. "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."

9. "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees."

10. "The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."

11. "One day's exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books."

12. "The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark."

13. "Wilderness is not only a haven for native plants and animals but it is also a refuge from society. Its a place to go to hear the wind and little else, see the stars and the galaxies, smell the pine trees, feel the cold water, touch the sky and the ground at the same time, listen to coyotes, eat the fresh snow, walk across the desert sands, and realize why it's good to go outside of the city and the suburbs. Fortunately, there is wilderness just outside the limits of the cities and the suburbs in most of the United States, especially in the West."

14. "I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."

15. "There is a love of wild nature in everybody, an ancient mother-love showing itself whether recognized or no, and however covered by cares and duties."

16. "The power of the imagination is a great thing, and a river, a mountain, or a sunset is the same from every point of view. Yet we all have varied experiences and see them from different standpoints."

17. "No synonym for God is so perfect as Beauty. Whether as seen carving the lines of the mountains with glaciers, or gathering matter into stars, or planning the movements of water, or gardening—still all is Beauty!"

18. "I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature's loveliness. Heaven knows that John the Baptist was not more eager to get all his fellow sinners into the Jordan than I to baptize all of mine in the beauty of God's mountains."

19. "Going to the mountains is going home."

20. "The gross heathenism of civilization has generally destroyed nature, and poetry, and all that is spiritual."

21. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

22. "I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do."

23. "When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty."

24. "The world, we are told, was made especially for man—a presumption not supported by all the facts."

25. "We all travel the milky way together, trees and men."

26. "Another glorious day, the air as delicious to the lungs as nectar to the tongue."

27. "I never saw a discontented animal. I never knew a horse that had hard times but one who got bad usage from his master."

28. "To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the world."

29. "There is a love of wild nature in everybody."

30. "I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."

31. "The power of imagination makes us infinite."

32. "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."

33. "How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!"

34. "The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing."

35. "Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer."

36. "A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease."

37. "Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature, you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you."

38. "In God's wildness lies the hope of the world—the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness."

39. "There is a love of wild nature in everybody, an ancient mother-love showing itself whether recognized or no, and however covered by cares and duties."

40. "The world, we are told, was made especially for man—a presumption not supported by all the facts."

41. "The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us."

42. "The mountains are calling and I must go."

43. "All the wild world is beautiful, and it matters but little where we go, to highlands or lowlands, woods or plains, on the sea or land or down among the crystals of waves or high in a balloon in the sky; through all the climates, hot or cold, storms and calms, everywhere and always we are in God's eternal beauty and love."

44. "Nature is always lovely, invincible, glad, whatever is done and suffered by her creatures. All scars she heals, whether in rocks or water or sky or hearts."

45. "Going to the woods is going home."

46. "Wilderness is not only a haven for native plants and animals but it is also a refuge from society. Its a place to go to hear the wind and little else, see the stars and the galaxies, smell the pine trees, feel the cold water, touch the sky and the ground at the same time, listen to coyotes, eat the fresh snow, walk across the desert sands, and realize why it's good to go outside of the city and the suburbs."

47. "Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like

autumn leaves."

48. "One day's exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books."

49. "God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools."

50. "Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."

51. "Most people who travel look only at what they are directed to look at. Great is the power of the guidebook maker, however ignorant."

52. "The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."

53. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

54. "There is that in the glance of a flower which may at times control the greatest of creation's braggart lords."

55. "The beauty of the world, which is so soon to perish, has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder."

56. "A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease."

57. "The mountains are fountains—not only of rivers but of men. Therefore, we are all—everyone in the world—fountain lovers. My love is for the mountain, not for the tree, which I do not think I ever saw in all its glory at one time."

58. "Most people are on the world, not in it—having no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them—undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate."

59. "The more I see of deer, the more I admire them as mountaineers. They make their way into the heart of the roughest solitudes with smooth reserve of strength, through dense belts of brush and forest encumbered with fallen trees and boulder piles, across canons, roaring streams, and snow-fields, ever showing forth beauty and courage."

60. "The eternal loveliness of the wilderness—a hope and expectation that shall never fade."

61. "One should go to the woods for safety, if for nothing else."

62. "Man needs beauty as well as bread places to play in and pray in where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul."

63. "None of Nature's landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild."

64. "As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can."

65. "I have a low opinion of books; they are but piles of stones set up to show coming travelers where other minds have been, or at best smoke signals to call attention... when the trail grows faint."

66. "One may as well dam for water tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man."

67. "I never met a bigot in the woods—God's first temples."

68. "The power of imagination makes us infinite."

69. "Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter."

70. "Nature is always lovely, invincible, glad, whatever is done and suffered by her creatures. All scars she heals, whether in rocks or water or sky or hearts."

71. "The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing."

72. "There is that in the glance of a flower which may at times control the greatest of creation's braggart lords."

73. "The beauty of the world is God's handwriting."

74. "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike."

75. "Every natural object is a conductor of divinity and only by coming into contact with them... may we be filled with the Holy Ghost."

76. "The power of imagination makes us infinite."

77. "Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter."

78. "The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us."

79. "Going to the woods is going home."

80. "The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."

81. "Nature is always lovely, invincible, glad, whatever is done and suffered by her creatures. All scars she heals, whether in rocks or water or sky or hearts."

82. "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees."

83. "One day's exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books."

84. "In God's wildness lies the hope of the world—the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness."

85. "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike."

86. "Another glorious day, the air as delicious to the lungs as nectar to the tongue."

87. "There is a love of wild nature in everybody, an ancient mother-love showing itself whether recognized or no, and however covered by cares and duties."

88. "Most people who travel look only at what they are directed to look at. Great is the power of the guidebook maker, however ignorant."

89. "The world, we are told, was made especially for man—a presumption not supported by all the facts."

90. "The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us."

91. "One day's exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books."

92. "How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!"

93. "The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing."

94. "Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer."

95. "A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease."

96. "Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature, you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you."

97. "In God's wildness lies the hope of the world—the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness."

98. "There is a love of wild nature in everybody, an ancient mother-love showing itself whether recognized or no, and however covered by cares and duties."

99. "The world, we are told, was made especially for man—a presumption not supported by all the facts."

100. "We all travel the milky way together, trees and men."

These quotes reflect John Muir's deep reverence and love for nature, his appreciation of the wilderness, and his belief in the spiritual and transformative power of the natural world.