John Muir – a true mountain man, naturalist, and a key player in the preservation of wilderness in the United States. Born in Scotland, the writing of the American environmental philosopher, are an inspiration to millions of outdoor enthusiasts worldwide. Biographer Donald Worster believes that his mission was “…saving the American soul from total surrender to materialism.” And you only need to acquaint yourself with a handful of his wise and poet words to understand where Worster was coming from.
Such was his influence on the future and preservation of some of the most beautiful and wild areas of the United States, he now has a number of famous trails and landmarks named in his honour:
- The John Muir Trail in California
- Muir Woods National Monument near San Francisco
- Muir Beach in San Francisco
- John Muir College in San Diego
- Mount Muir in the Sierra Nevada
- Camp Muir in Mount Rainer National Park
- Muir Glacier in Alaska
- John Muir Way in Scotland
And in 1892 he also founded The Sierra Club, which is now the nation’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organisation. A bit of a legend in the outdoor world, posing as a wonderful reminder of what really matters.
So if you are yearning to “get home to the mountains” and have “the winds blow their own freshness into you”, then take a read of our favourite John Muir quotes to get you inspired for your next encounter with nature:
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.”
“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.”
I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature’s loveliness.”
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. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love.”
“Few places in this world are more dangerous than home. Fear not, therefore, to try the mountain passes. They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action.”
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
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.”
“Who wouldn’t be a mountaineer! Up here all the world’s prizes seem nothing.”
I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapour is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”
“At the touch of this divine light, the mountains seemed to kindle to a rapt, religious consciousness, and stood hushed like devout worshippers waiting to be blessed.”
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”
Most people who travel look only at what they are directed to look at. Great is the power of the guidebook maker, however ignorant.”
“Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer.”
John Muir – The Cruise of the Corwin (1917)
None of Nature’s landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild.”
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilised people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”
Most people are on the world, not in it.”
“I ran home in the moonlight with long, firm strides; for the sun-love made me strong.”
