Many hikers and lovers of nature have heard of the great John Muir.
You’ve most likely heard dozens of his poems and quotes about nature, conservation, and adventure.
An inspiring man to many, Muir was even known as the “Father of the National Parks” or “John of the Mountains”. A wanderer and traveler at heart, he worked to share his love of nature and beauty with others all around the world.
As a celebration of his work, I’ve put together a list of my favorite John Muir poems and quotes from his lifetime. I hope you enjoy and embrace his inspirational words!
John Muir Poems & Quotes
1. “The mountains are calling and I must go.”
2. “The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”
3. “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
4. “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
5. “Going to the mountains is going home.”
6. “The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”
7. “Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life.”
8. “The mountains are fountains of men as well as of rivers, of glaciers, of fertile soil. The great poets, philosophers, prophets, able men whose thoughts and deeds have moved the world, have come down from the mountains – mountain dwellers who have grown strong there with the forest trees in Nature’s workshops.”
9. “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.”
10. “Earth has no sorrow that earth can not heal.”
11. “There are no accidents in Nature, he said. Every motion of the constantly shifting bodies in the world is timed to the occasion for some definite, fore ordered end. The flowers blossom in obedience to the same law that marks the course of constellations, and the song of a bird is the echo of a universal symphony.”
12. “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
13. “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.”
14. “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.”
15. “The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness.”
16. “Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”
17. “The world is big and I want to get a good look at it before it gets dark.”
18. “One day’s exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books.”
19. “The power of imagination makes us infinite.”
20. “No traveler, whether a tree lover or not, will ever forget his first walk in a sugar-pine forest.”
21. “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”
22. “The big tree is nature’s forest masterpiece…the greatest of living things.”
23. “Come to the woods for here is rest.”
24. “All that the sun shines on is beautiful , so long as it is wild.”
25. “Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.”
26. “One can make a day of any size and regulate the rising and setting of his own sun and the brightness of its shining.”
27. “Pursuing my lonely way down the valley, I turned, again and again, to gaze on the glorious picture, throwing up my arms to inclose it as in a frame.”
28. “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.”
29. “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. 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 away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”
30. “The deeper the solitude the less the sense of loneliness, and the nearer our friends.”
31. “I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news.”
32. “The world, we are told, was made especially for man — a presumption not supported by all the facts.””
33. “Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness but do not damage it.”
34. “We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us.”
35. “Everybody needs beauty…places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul alike.”
