Epic Wilderness Quotes by Explorers, Authors, and Adventurers

In this collection of wilderness quotes, we've listed the best quotes about the wilderness, nature, and outdoor adventure. Prepare to be inspired!

Famous Wilderness Quotes Collection

Includes braving the wilderness quotes, captions about the wilderness and more!

Wilderness Sayings and Quotes

In my various travels around the world by bicycle, I've been fortunate to have enjoyed my time in wilderness locations.

Whether cycling in Alaska, camping out at the top of the Andes, or riding through the desert of Sudan, there's something indescribable about traveling through wilderness locations.

At least it's indescribable for me! Other adventurers and writers seem to have a better way with words, and have come up with some amazing quotes about the wilderness.

So, I decided to gather these wilderness sayings and quotes in one place.

Here's my ultimate collection of inspirational wilderness quotes, wilderness sayings, and wilderness proverbs. Feel free to share this post on social media using the buttons in the bottom right hand corner of your screen!

Wilderness Quote Collection

Lets start with perhaps the most famous explorer, naturalist and writer we associate with the wilderness. I'm talking, of course, of none other than John Muir.

The mountains are calling and I must go - John Muir wilderness quote


The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.

– John Muir

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. - John Muir


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.

– 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; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.

– John Muir


In God's wildness lies the hope of the world – the great fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off, and wounds heal ere we are aware.

– John Muir


Man must be made conscious of his origin as a child of Nature. Brought into right relationship with the wilderness he would see that he was not a separate entity endowed with a divine right to subdue his fellow creatures and destroy the common heritage, but rather an integral part of a harmonious whole.

– John Muir


Wilderness quote by John Muir - I came to life in the cool winds and crystal waters of the mountains.

Related: Edmund Hillary Quotes

Wilderness Quotes

Below is the next section of our favorite wilderness quotes collection. Have we missed one of your favorite quotes to do with the wilderness? Let us know in the comments at the end of this post!

Quote about enjoying the wilderness

If you know wilderness in the way that you know love, you would be unwilling to let it go…. This is the story of our past and it will be the story of our future.

– Terry Tempest Williams


The wilderness holds answers to questions man has not yet learned to ask.

– Nancy Newhall


I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.

– Aldo Leopold


The wilderness and the idea of wilderness is one of the permanent homes of the human spirit.

– Joseph Wood Krutch


In the wilderness is the preservation of the world.

– Henry David Thoreau


Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.

– Edward Abbey


The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.

– Edward Abbey


We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it.

– Edward Abbey

We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it - Quote


Wilderness without wildlife is just scenery.

– Lois Crisler


The wilderness provides an environment for a child's inner life to develop because it requires him to be constantly aware of his surroundings.

– Leslie Stephen


It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves

Related: Fall in love with nature quotes

Quotes on Nature and the Wilderness

These well-known and famous quotes about the wilderness are a source of constant inspiration. They remind us of where we came from, where we are going, and our place in the world.

Nature is one of the most underutilized treasures in life. It has the power to unburden hearts and reconnect to that inner place of peace.

– Janice Anderson


He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary.

– Friedrich Nietzsche


“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”

– Frank Lloyd Wright

Quotes about enjoying nature - “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” – Frank Lloyd Wright


Wilderness gave us knowledge. Wilderness made us human. We came from here. Perhaps that is why so many of us feel a strong bond to this land called serengeti; it is the land of our youth.

– Boyd Norton


To me, a wilderness is where the flow of wildness is essentially uninterrupted by technology; without wilderness the world is a cage.

– David Brower

To me, a wilderness is where the flow of wildness is essentially uninterrupted by technology; without wilderness the world is a cage. - David Brower


In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia. Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.

– Charles Lindbergh


Some of nature's most exquisite handiwork is on a miniature scale, as anyone knows who has applied a magnifying glass to a snowflake.

– Rachel Carson

Inspiring quotes about nature - Some of nature's most exquisite handiwork is on a miniature scale, as anyone knows who has applied a magnifying glass to a snowflake. - Rachel Carson


The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom.

– Theodore Roosevelt


The wilderness is a place of rest — not in the sense of being motionless, for the lure, after all, is to move, to round the next bend. The rest comes in the isolation from distractions, in the slowing of the daily centrifugal forces that keep us off balance.

– David Douglas


Quotes About The Wilderness

I hope you have found these wilderness quotes to contain wisdom and insights. If you're looking for ideas for you own social media status updates, check out our collection of adventure captions for Instagram.

To celebrate the world around us, here are some more inspirational quotes about nature and the wilderness.

Wilderness complements and completes civilization. I might say that the existence of wilderness is also a compliment to civilization. Any society that feels itself too poor to afford the preservation of wilderness is not worthy of the name of civilization.

– Edward Abbey


Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Captions about nature: Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. - Ralph Waldo Emerson


In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

– Aristotle

The marvel of nature: In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. - Aristotle


Wilderness begins where the road ends; and if the roads never end, there never will be any wilderness.

– Frank Church


If adventure has a final and all-embracing motive, it is surely this: we go out because it is our nature to go out, to climb mountains, and to paddle rivers, to fly to the planets and plunge into the depths of the oceans… When man ceases to do these things, he is no longer man.

– Wilfrid Noyce


We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.”

— Wallace Stegner


The top of one mountain is always the bottom of another.

– Marianne Williamson

Captions about mountains - The top of one mountain is always the bottom of another.


I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”

—Anne Frank


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.

Mountaineering trekking quotes - 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.


Our drive, our ruggedness, our unquenchable optimism and zeal and elan go back to the challenges of the untrammeled wilderness.”

– Harvey Broome.


“Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles.”

– Terence McKenna.


Hike more. Worry Less.

Hiking quotes - Hike more. Worry Less.


“The earth laughs in flowers.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson.


“But the love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need — if only we had the eyes to see.”

– Edward Abbey.


Wilderness Captions

Interested in creating your own images with cations about the wilderness? Take your choice from the best wilderness captions below.

  • “Walking is a man’s best medicine” – Hippocrates
  • “Hiking and happiness go hand in hand or foot in boot.”  – Diane Spicer
  • “Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit.”  – Edward Abbey
  • “Hiking’s not for everyone. Notice the wilderness is mostly empty.” – Sonja Yoerg
  • “The Earth has music for those who listen.” – William Shakespeare
  • “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” – John Burroughs

Edmund Hillary wilderness quotes


“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”

– Rachel Carson.


“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.”

– Kahlil Gibran, ‘The Prophet'.


More Inspiring Quotes

If you enjoyed these quotes about wilderness, you might also want to check out our other awesome quotes collections!

What are your favorite quotes about ? We'd love the wilderness to hear from you. Please leave a comment with your favorite wilderness quote at the bottom of this page!

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Cycling in Mexico with a Bob Yak trailerDave Briggs
Dave is a travel writer and adventurer from the UK, currently living in Greece. Passionate about outdoor adventure and bike touring in particular, he has cycled from Alaska to Argentina, England to Cape Town, and Greece to England. When he's not riding a bike, he's creating travel guides to encourage people to see more of this beautiful world around us.
 
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