Quotes by John Muir

“Man seems to be the only animal whose food soils him, making necessary much washing and shield-like bibs and napkins. Moles living in the earth and eating slimy worms are yet as clean as seals or f...”

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.”

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

“Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God.”

“To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the world.”

“In all my wild mountaineering, I have enjoyed only one avalanche ride; and the start was so sudden, and the end came so soon, I thought but little of the danger that goes with this sort of travel, ...”

“The making of the far-famed New York Central Park was opposed by even good men, with misguided pluck, perseverance, and ingenuity, but straight right won its way, and now that park is appreciated. ...”

“During my first years in the Sierra, I was ever calling on everybody within reach to admire them, but I found no one half warm enough until Emerson came. I had read his essays, and felt sure that o...”

“The coniferous forests of the Yosemite Park, and of the Sierra in general, surpass all others of their kind in America, or indeed the world, not only in the size and beauty of the trees, but in the...”

“The waving of a pine tree on the top of a mountain - a magic wand in Nature's hand - every devout mountaineer knows its power; but the marvelous beauty value of what the Scotch call a breckan in a ...”

“I am learning to live close to the lives of my friends without ever seeing them. No miles of any measurement can separate your soul from mine.”

“The radiance in some places is so great as to be fairly dazzling . . . every crystal every flower a window opening into heaven a mirror reflecting the Creator.”

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings: Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine into flowers the winds will blow their freshness into you and the storms their energy and cares will...”

“The power of imagination makes us infinite.”

“This time it is real — all must die, and where could mountaineer find a more glorious death!”

“John Muir, Earth — planet, Un”

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity”

“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 ...”

“What a psalm the storm was singing, and how fresh the smell of the washed earth and leaves, and how sweet the still small voices of the storm!”

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