"I know that I could, under ordinary circumstances, accumulate wealth and obtain a fair position in society, and I am arrived at an age that requires that I should choose some definite course for life. … I brooded on the bread problem, so troublesome to wanderers, trying to believe that I might learn to live like the wild animals, gleaning nourishment here and there, sauntering and climbing in joyful independence of money or baggage. But I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news. It feels important to keep close to Nature’s heart and break clear away, once in awhile, and spend a week in the wild to Wash your spirit clean." — John Muir via Samuel Hall Young Alaska Days with John Muir
"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am—a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards." — Edward Abbey
"People often ask “Why?” and I wonder – why not? I’m not anyone special. I am just someone who believed in herself. Someone who would never have been able to spend the rest of my life standing still in one place, dreaming of being somewhere different, wondering if I was capable. I know the future me will never question why she did any of these things, she will just be glad she did." — Alex Mason Adventure Journal, "Getting Out to Get Out of a Stale Life"
"There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction." — John F. Kennedy
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." — Mahatma Gandhi
"When we’re in love with someone or something, there’s no separation between ourselves and the person or thing we love. We do whatever we can for them, and this brings us great joy and nourishment. When we see the Earth this way, we will walk more gently on her." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Walk
"We know that we want to be more present, but very often we don’t do it. We need a friend or a teacher to remind us. The Earth can be that teacher. It is always there, greeting your feet, keeping you solid and grounded." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Walk
"Every time we take a step on this Earth, we can appreciate the solid ground underneath us." — Thich Nhat Hanh How to Walk
"Saying something is impossible is a great way to get out of having to try." — Carolyn Highland Out Here: Wisdom from the Wilderness
"Often the idea of change is more difficult than the change itself." — Sarah Marquis Wild by Nature: From Siberia to Australia, Three Years Alone in the Wilderness on Foot
"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. ... Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." — Viktor Frankl Man’s Search for Meaning
"There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, a perfect ratio of water to rock, of water to sand, ensuring that wide, free, open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid west so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here, unless you try to establish a city where no city should be." — Edward Abbey Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness
"…love nature for what it is, rather than what we can take from it." — Barbara Kingsolver Small Wonder
"The freedom to do as we choose is essential to the nature and history of climbing—those who can do, do. That involves the burden of personal responsibility, and is a tremendous part of what we love about climbing. Whether or not that freedom is sustainable in this day and age is another question. … Since we are left to our own devices with the freedom of climbing, what do our actions say about us?" — Kelly Cordes The Tower: A Chronicle of Climbing and Controversy on Cerro Torre
"We are animals. We, like the otter, can digest the flesh of smelt in our gut and can roll to our backs, hands clutched over our chests. We, like the smelt, come to the edge of the sea to live and we scatter when there is fear. We lick our fingers clean, sleep when we must, and dream when we sleep, like any animal. We are also animals who are taking up an incredible amount of space for our size." — Craig Childs The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild
"Paradise found is paradise lost." — Edward Wilson The Future of Life
"The mountains do not exist for our amusement. They owe us nothing, and they ask nothing of us." — The Freedom of the Hills
"The drive was long and pleasant. Open stretches allow the mind to wander. What happens in the high desert where no one trespasses? Are there places where the ground squirrels and rattlesnakes have never had to hide from a human? But even on the most remote stretches of the road, there were signs of the carelessness and irreverence of man. After driving without seeing another car for an eternity, we pulled over to stretch our legs. There, caught in the gnarled branches of a sage brush, was a Lays chip bag. Half buried in the sandy ground, a dark beer bottle sat forgotten. These signs of ingratitude beg some deeper questioning about selfishness. The person who tosses the bottle out of the window is acting selfishly: “I’m don’t with this and I don’t want it near me anymore.” And further: “I don’t care to consider what happens to this item after it passes from my hand.” An inability to see beyond one’s body and one’s moment is a sad and pervasive trend amongst humans." — Clea Partridge Stay Wild Magazine, Winter 2018, "Alvord Desert, Oregon"
"It’s easy for us to take [national parks] for granted because we didn’t have to fight for [them]. Our generation was born into the park system, and hopefully it will be here for the next, but not without a fight. Vested interests would love to drill, tap, frack, or graze it, and they are paying lots of lobbyists to do so. So next time you see a Sequoia, or a Redwood, or a Joshua Tree, or a Saguaro, don’t forget these things can easily be taken away if we don’t fight back. Anyone who has truly been in love knows it’s a constant battle." — Jeff Edwards Stay Wild Magazine, Summer 2016, "Perfect Excuse"
"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love." — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
