From time to time we all need a little inspiration, so we’ve assembled the largest collection of adventure and hiking quotes on the web. These quotes are by famous naturalists like John Muir, climbers like Sir Edmund Hillary, and explorers, poets, industry leaders, or authors who were inspired by the great outdoors.
We have selected some quotes by famous adventurers, while others are simply about hiking, nature, or being outside, but all will light a fire for adventure in your soul.
So if you love the mountains, dream about winding trails, or just enjoy a good adventure quote, you’ll surely like what follows.
If you'd like to share any of the following quotes and images feel free. We've added simple embed codes so you can easily add them to your own website as well!
Table of contents
- John Muir quotes about hiking
- Adventure quotes from climbers and explorers
- Thoughtful quotes from naturalists and activists
- Quotes about adventure by public figures and industry leaders
- Adventure and hiking quotes from famous authors
- Poet’s quotes about nature
- Outdoor quotes from artists and entertainers
- Nature quotes by spiritual leaders
- Inspirational quotes from the distant past
John Muir quotes about hiking
#1: “Between every two pines there is a doorway to a new world.” - John Muir
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#2: "In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir
#3: "The mountains are calling and I must go." - John Muir
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#4: “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” - John Muir
#5: “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.” - John Muir
#6: "Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt." - John Muir
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#7: “Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature’s darlings.” - John Muir
#8: "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." - John Muir
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Adventure quotes from climbers and explorers
#9: “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." - Sir Edmund Hillary
#10: "You won, this time. But you are as big as you are ever going to get. And I’m still growing." - Sir Edmund Hillary
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#11: “Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.” - Sir Edmund Hillary
#12: “Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.” - Greg Child
#13: “The best journeys in life are those that answer questions you never thought to ask.” - Rich Ridgeway
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#14: "To travel, to experience and learn: that is to live." - Tenzing Norgay
#15: “Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” - Ed Viesturs
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#16: “There are two kinds of climbers, those who climb because their heart sings when they’re in the mountains, and all the rest.” - Alex Lowe
#17: “Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.” - Anatoli Boukreev
#18: “How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.” - Yvon Chouinard,
#19: “The more you know, the less you need.” - Yvon Chouinard
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#20: “Real adventure is defined best as a journey from which you may not come back alive, and certainly not as the same person.” - Yvon Chouinard
#21: “Each fresh peak ascended teaches something.” - Sir Martin Conway
#22: “We don’t stop hiking because we grow old. We grow old because we stop hiking.” - Finis Mitchell
#23: “There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” - Sir Ranulph Fiennes
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#24: “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” - Amelia Earhart
#25: "Carry as little as possible, but choose that little with care.” - Earl Shaffer
#26: "Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence." - Hermann Buhl
#27: “The mountains were there and so was I.” - Maurice Herzog
#28: “In the mountains, there are only two grades: You can either do it, or you can’t.” - Rusty Baillie
#29: “Remember that time spent on a rock climb is not subtracted from your lifespan.” - Will Niccolls
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Thoughtful quotes from naturalists and activists
#30: "I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order." - John Burroughs
#31: “There are two most powerful days in your life. The day you are born, and the day you discover why.” - Boniface Mwangi
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#32: “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” - Rachel Carlson
Quotes about adventure by public figures and industry leaders
#33: “Embrace the detours.” - Kevin Charbonneau
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#34: “Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.” - Albert Einstein
#35: "If you’re going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
#36: “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” - Frank A. Clark
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#37: “The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
#38: “Mountain hikes instilled in me a life-long urge to get to the top of any inviting summit or peak.” - Paul D. Boyer
#39: “The higher you climb on the mountain, the harder the wind blows.” - Sam Cummings
#40: “Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.” - Dag Hammarskjold
#41: “Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery.” - John Ruskin
#42: “Only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.” - Richard M. Nixon
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#43: “Take only memories, leave only footprints.” - Chief Seattle
#44: “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” - Mohandas Gandhi
#45: “If happiness is the goal – and it should be, then adventures should be top priority.” - Richard Branson
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#46: “You must go on adventures to find out where you truly belong.” - Sue Fitzmaurice
Adventure and hiking quotes from famous authors
#47: "I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than trees." - Henry David Thoreau
#48: "Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow." - Henry David Thoreau
#49: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." - Henry David Thoreau
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#50: “You’re off to great places, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.” - Dr. Seuss
#51: “Not all who wander are lost” - JRR Tolkien
#52: “My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.” - Aldous Huxley
#53: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” - Helen Keller
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#54: “People don’t take trips, trips take people.” - John Steinbeck
#55: "We live in a fast-paced society. Walking slows us down." - Robert Sweetgall
#56: “I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.” - Eric Roth
#57: “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” - T.S. Eliot
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#58: “The end of all exploring will be to arrive where you started and know the place for the first time.” - T.S. Elliot
#59: “The danger of adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort.” - Paulo Coelho
#60: “Adventure isn’t hanging off a rope on the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life” - John Amatt
#61: “If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet.” - Rachel Wolchin
#62: “Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure” - Bob Bitchin
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#63: “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” - Jack Kerouac
#64: “Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.” - Ernest Hemingway
#65: “It’s never too late in life to have a genuine adventure.” - Robert Kurson
#66: “Don’t die without embracing the daring adventure your life was meant to be.” - Steve Pavlina
#67: “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” - Albert Camus
#68: “A person susceptible to ‘wanderlust’ is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation.” - Pico Iyer
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#69: “You need special shoes for hiking - and a bit of a special soul as well.” - Terri Guillemets
#70: “Walking: the most ancient exercise and still the best modern exercise.” - Carrie Latet
#71: “The long-distance hiker, a breed set apart, from the likes of the usual pack. He’ll shoulder his gear, be hittin’ the trail; long gone, long ‘fore he’ll be back.” - M.J. Eberhart
#72: "After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value." - G.M. Trevelyan
#73: "I have two doctors, my left leg and my right." - G.M. Trevelyan
#74: “A crude meal, no doubt, but the best of all sauces is hunger.” - Edward Abbey
#75: "Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread." - Edward Abbey
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#76: “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” - Edward Abbey
#77: "Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking; You have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits." - Cindy Ross
#78: "Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken." - Frank Herbert
#79: “If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.” - Raymond Inmon
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#80: “You need mountains, long staircases don't make good hikers.” - Amit Kalantri
#81: “Trekking means a travelling experience with a thrilling excitement.” - Amit Kalantri
#82: “You never climb the same mountain twice, not even in memory. Memory rebuilds the mountain, changes the weather, retells the jokes, remakes all the moves.” - Lito Tejada-Flores
#83: “I walked slowly to enjoy this freedom, and when I came out of the mountains, I saw the sky over the prairie, and I thought that if heaven was real, I hoped it was a place I never had to go, for this earth was greater than any paradise.” - Daniel J. Rice
#84: “On a hike, the days pass with the wind, the sun, the stars; movement is powered by a belly full of food and water, not a noxious tankful of fossil fuels. On a hike, you're less a job title and more a human being. A periodic hike not only stretches the limbs but also reminds us: Wow, there's a big old world out there.” - Ken Ilgunas
#85: “Set loose, a child would run down the paths, scramble up the rocks, lie on the earth. Grown-ups more often let their minds do the running, scrambling, and lying, but the emotion is shared. It feels good to be here.” - David Miller
#86: “Hiking and happiness go hand in hand or foot in boot.” - Diane Spicer
Poet’s quotes about nature
#87: “Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” - Gary Snyder
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#88: “Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you.” - Richard Aldington
#89: “I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” - Robert Frost
#90: “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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#91: “I like being near the top of a mountain. One can’t get lost here.” - Wislawa Szymborska
#92: "The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
#93: "Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." - Walt Whitman
#94: "Great things are done when men and mountains meet; This is not done by jostling in the street." - William Blake
#95: “I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” - Rosalia de Castro
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Outdoor quotes from artists and entertainers
#96: “No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied – it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.” - Ansel Adams
#97: “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” - Frank Lloyd Wright
#98: “Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul.” - Jaime Lyn Beatty
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#99: “It is not death most people are afraid of. It is getting to the end of life, only to realise, that you never truly lived.” - Prince Ea
#100: “Adventure is a path. Real adventure, self-determined, self-motivated, often risky, forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world.” - Mark Jenkins
#101: "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." - Beverly Sills
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#102: “Climbing is as close as we can come to flying.” - Margaret Young
#103: “When preparing to climb a mountain – pack a light heart.” - Dan May
#104: “Stop following others and create your own path in life.” - Dani Jay
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#105: “Hiking is just walking where it's okay to pee.” - Demetri Martin
#106: “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you are climbing it.” - Andy Rooney
Nature quotes by spiritual leaders
#107: “A walk in nature walks the soul back home.” - Mary Davis
#108: “To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.” - Mary Davis
#109: “You can’t find happiness at the end of your journey if you didn’t bring it with you all along.” - Katrina Mayer
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Inspirational quotes from the distant past
#110: “In all things of nature, there is something of the marvellous.” - Aristotle
#111: “Only one who wanders finds a new path.” - Norwegian Proverb
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#112: "Walking is a man's best medicine." - Hippocrates
#113: “Adventure is worthwhile.” - Aesop
#114: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Lao Tzu
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