Unlike many of our day-to-day lives, we bow down as a means of expressing our humble appreciation for these Godlike behemoths. We take careful measures not to mock them and all that they behold.Mountains provide us refuge from the damage we have done and continue to do to our built-up surroundings. It is home to so many creatures who show us how simple life can truly be.
We create a new sense of self in the home of a mountain. We climb their natural stairs to conquer fear, to induce adrenaline, and moreover, to unite our worlds.There is so much to be said about mountains, and there are so many people who have poignantly put into words how undeniably incredible they truly are. Take a look at these 20 quotes from an array of inspirational mountain movers.
“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
“To me a mountain is a buddha. think of the patience, hundreds of thousands of years just sittin there bein perfectly perfectly silent and like praying for all living creatures in that silence and just waitin for us to stop all our frettin and foolin.”? Jack Kerouac
“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
“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.”? John Muir
“The mountains are calling and I must go.”? John Muir
“We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us.”? John Muir
“He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary.”? Friedrich Neitszche
“On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.”— Friedrich Nietzsche
“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
“Each stone, each bend cries welcome to him. He identifies with the mountains and the streams, he sees something of his own soul in the plants and the animals and the birds of the field.”— Paulo Coelho
“The way up to the top of the mountain is always longer than you think.Don’t fool yourself, the moment will arrive when what seemed so near is still very far.”— Paulo Coelho
“Although I deeply love oceans, deserts and other wild landscapes, it is only mountains that beckon me with that sort of painful magnetic pull to walk deeper and deeper into their beauty. They keep me continuously wanting to know more, feel more, see more.”— Victoria Erickson
“I have climbed several higher mountains without guide or path, and have found, as might be expected, that it takes only more time and patience commonly than to travel the smoothest highway.”— Henry David Thoreau
“You’re off to Great Places!Today is your day!Your mountain is waiting,So… get on your way!”? Dr. Seuss
“Beyond what we wish and what we fear may happen,we have another life…as clear and free as a mountain stream.”— Rumi
“Mountains are only a problem when they are bigger than you. You should develop yourself so much that you become bigger than the mountains you face.”? Idowu Koyenikan
“So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, thatthe struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That iswhat life means and what life is for.”? George Mallory
“It is not the mountains that we conquer, but ourselves.”— Sir Edmund Hillary
“Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.”? David McCullough Jr.
“If you are faced with a mountain, you have several options. You can climb it and cross to the other side. You can go around it. You can dig under it. You can fly over it. You can blow it up. You can ignore it and pretend it’s not there. You can turn around and go back the way you came. Or you can stay on the mountain and make it your home.”— Vera Nazarian