John Muir Quotes

When you go into a forest, anything can happen.

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

I now walk into the wild.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

Hiking in undiscovered places is a lot of fun.

We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.

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

We were now arrived at the close of our solitary journeyings along the St. Joseph's trail.

It's always good to find things that you haven't found before.

Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.

The way one approaches a wilderness story is to fashion a quest - find something that you are truly interested in finding or discovering.

It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between.

You never know what your next dig is going to find.

I have my mountain man moments like hiking in the woods.

A tourist follows a trail; a mountaineer finds one.

When every inch of the world is known, sleep may be the only wilderness that we have left.

I ransack public libraries & find them full of sunk treasure.

Into the woods you go again You have to every now and then Into the woods, no telling when Be ready for the journey Into the woods, each time you go There's more to learn of what you know.

Leave the beaten track behind occasionally and dive into the woods. Every time you do you will be certain to find something you have never seen before.

How could I say that I wished to penetrate the secrets of the mountains in search of something still unknown that, like the yeti, might well be missed for the very fact of searching?

Two or three hours' walking will carry me to as strange a country as I expect ever to see. A single farmhouse which I had not seen before is sometimes as good as the dominions of the King of Dahomey.

Upon the hearth the fire is red, Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet, Still round the corner we may meet A sudden tree or standing stone That none have seen but we alone. Tree and flower and leaf and grass, Let them pass! Let them pass!

All the world was before me and every day was a holiday, so it did not seem important to which one of the world's wildernesses I first should wander.

Traveler is my only companion; I may also say my pleasure. He and I, whenever practicable, wander out in the mountains and enjoy sweet confidence.

Discovery is adventure. There is an eagerness, touched at times with tenseness, as man moves ahead into the unknown. Walking the wilderness is indeed like living. The horizon drops away, bringing new sights, sounds, and smells from the earth. When one moves through the forests, his sense of discovery is quickened. Man is back in the environment from which he emerged to build factories, churches, and schools. He is primitive again, matching his wits against the earth and sky. He is free of the restraints of society and free of its safeguards too.