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When you can’t be in the mountains, the next best thing is to read some motivational hiking quotes to get you ready to hit the trails!
From experienced mountain climbers to classic authors and artists, here are 81 some of my favourite quotes on the real adventure and the rhythm of nature of being on hiking trails that will help bring out your adventurous spirit and make your hikes more meaningful.
If you think you’ve peaked, find a new mountain.
Unknown
And if you struggle to find time to hike, be sure to check out my post on how to set a hiking goal to help you achieve a meaningful goal to you.
And be sure to record your own thoughts that come to you while hiking in a hiking journal. By reflecting on your own time in nature, you’ll receive the wisdom it offers.
Not to mention the realization that the side effects of hiking are far more mental than physical.
Mountain and Hiking Quotes Around the Beauty of Nature
The mountains are calling and I must go.
– John Muir
I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.
– Henry David Thoreau
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
– Lao Tzu
The world is big, and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.
– John Muir
In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.
– John Muir
There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it.
– Sonja Yoerg
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
– John Muir
Mountain and Hiking Quotes About Overcoming Challenges
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.
The best way to prepare for a hike is to hike.
– Cindy Ross
Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.
– Joshua J. Marine
If you are facing in the right direction, all you have to do is keep on walking.
– Buddhist Proverb
The top of one mountain is always the bottom of another.
– Marianne Williamson
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.
– Henry Ward Beecher
Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous.
– Hermann Buhl
There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.
– Sir Ranulph Fiennes
I am not afraid of the mountain, for I know it will only make me stronger.
– Lhakpa Sherpa
The summit is not the goal. The goal is to climb it and come back safely.
– Sophia Danenberg
Climbing a mountain is like solving a puzzle – you have to take it one step at a time.
– Samina Baig
Mountains are not obstacles to be conquered, but challenges to be embraced.
– Kinga Baranowska
The impossible is often the untried.
– Jim Goodwin
Hiking and Mountain Quotes About Finding Inner Peace and Reflection
I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.
– Henry David Thoreau
It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.
– Sir Edmund Hillary.
Check out my post on why I no longer conquer mountains.
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
– Lao Tzu
The silence between the peaks speaks volumes.
– Beverly Sills
Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you are climbing it.
– Andy Rooney
Inspirational Hiking Quotes About Connecting with Nature
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
We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it.
– Beverly Sills
Keep close to nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.
– John Muir
I love to sit on a mountain top and gaze. I don’t think of anything but the people I care about and the view.
– Julian Lennon
The wilderness holds answers to questions we have not yet learned to ask.
– Nancy Wynne Newhall
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.
– Edward Abbey
Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.
– Gary Snyder
Going to the mountains is going home.
– Yvon Chouinard
The mountain is full of poetry, and the poetry is full of mountains.
– Rosalia De Castro
The scenic route is always worth taking, especially if it leads you to a mountain view.
– Unknown
Hiking is the ancient exercise that mankind has been doing since the dawn of time. It connects us to our past and offers a glimpse into our future.
– Unknown
In nature, everything is connected.
– Robert Bateman
The earth has music for those who listen.
– George Santayana
Quotes About Adventure and Exploration
Adventure is worthwhile in itself.
– Amelia Earhart
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.
– Saint Augustine
The mountains are a demanding mistress.
– Conrad Anker
It is not the destination, but the journey that matters.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
The best way out is always through.
– Robert Frost
The mountains are calling and I must go.
– John Mackey
Sometimes the adventure is just the journey.
– Alex Love
Life is a journey, make the most of it.
– Sibusiso Vilane
Motivational Hiking Quotes About Perseverance and Determination
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
– Mahatma Gandhi
I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
– Jimmy Dean
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
– Winston Churchill
It always seems impossible until it’s done.
– Nelson Mandela
Mountains have a way of dealing with overconfidence.
– Robert Sweetgall
The long trail is not a thru-hike, it’s a lifestyle.
– Earl Shaffer
Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous.
– Hermann Buhl
If you think you’ve peaked, find a new mountain.
– Unknown
Also, be sure to check out my post about The First Step To Building Momentum to Reach New Peaks & Life Goals and How a Long Distance Hiking Trip Can Change Your Life for further inspiration.
The best view comes after the hardest climb.
– Unknown
Quotes About Hiking Mountains Related to Solitude and Reflection
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
– John Muir
To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.
– Mary Davis
The mountains are like a great cathedral, where I can go to worship. The earth is my church, and it is my job to preserve its resources.
– Diane Spicer
All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.
– Friedrich Nietzsche
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
– Albert Einstein – M.J. Eberhart
I go to the mountains to find peace and solitude.
– M.J. Eberhard
The mountain is a world within itself, an island of peace in a sea of turmoil.
– T.S. Eliot
The best teacher is experience and not through someone’s distorted point of view.
– Jack Kerouac
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
– Walt Whitman
Quotes for Hiking About Connecting with Others
The journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.
– Tim Cahill
A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.
– Tim Cahill
The best way to make friends is to go on a hike.
– Jennifer Pharr Davis
Climbing mountains is the best way to connect with the world, the community, and with oneself.
– Gary Synder
Hiking is not about the destination, it’s about the journey, and who you share it with.
– Terri Guillemets
Hiking is not about getting from point A to point B, it’s about the journey and the people you meet along the way.
– John Clarke
Check out my post on how to find a Hiking Buddy and find out the benefits of sharing adventures with friends.
Funny Quotes on Hiking
I have two doctors, my left leg and my right.
– G.M. Trevelyan
Climbing hills is like dating. You’re always looking for the next challenge.
– Unknown
I’m not lost, I’m just exploring.
– Unknown
Hiking is just walking where it’s okay to pee.
– Demetri Martin
I hike because punching people is frowned upon.
– Unknown
I don’t need therapy, I just need to go hiking.
– Unknown
Hiking: the art of slowly walking uphill while simultaneously getting sunburned and exhausted.
– Unknown
I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
– Fred Allen
My hair is a mess, I’ve got dirt on my face, and I’m covered in bug bites… and I’ve never felt more beautiful.
– Unknown
Be sure to check out our post on hiking makeup if you have a different idea on feeling beautiful.
So do motivational quotes actually work? Check out this article in Inc for an interesting perspective. I personally find they can help give me a different perspective, but of course reading a hiking quote isn’t the same as actually going for a hike.
Are you feeling inspired? What’s your favorite hiking quote? What more mountain inspiration? Check out these posts:
- Hike and Surround Yourself with People Who Push You to Reach New Peaks
- The 1st Step to Building Momentum to Reach New Peaks + Life Goals
- My Most Embarrassing Moment When I Stopped Caring About What Others Think
- Why I No Longer Conquer Mountains But Instead Look For the Lessons They Offer
- 12 Ways to Create Moments of Joy For Your Happiest Hike Ever
