JOHN MUIR

"No synonym for God is so perfect as Beauty."

"We all travel the Milky Way together, trees and men."

"As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail."

"And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul."

"Another glorious day, the air as delicious to the lungs as nectar to the tongue."

"But we are governed more than we know, and most when we are wildest."

"All the world was before me and every day was a holiday, so it did not seem important to which one of the world's wildernesses I first should wander."

"Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world."

"But it is in the darkest nights, when storms are blowing and the agitated waves are phosphorescent, that the most impressive displays are made."

"A part of all nature, neither old nor young, sick nor well, but immortal."

"Anyhow we never know where we must go, nor what guides we are to get - people, storms, guardian angels, or sheep."

"Go where we will, all the world over, we seem to have been there before."

"Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings."

"Few places in this world are more dangerous than home."

"Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you."

"Earth has no sorrow that earth can not heal."

"Every sight and sound inspiring, leading one far out of himself, yet feeding and building up his individuality."

"God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fool."

"Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness but do not damage it."

"Going to the woods is going home."

"How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!"

"I am learning to live close to the lives of my friends without ever seeing them. No miles of any measurement can separate your soul from mine."

"Hidden in the glorious wildness like unmined gold."

"I never saw a discontented tree."

"It is always interesting to see people in dead earnest, from whatever cause, and earthquakes make everybody earnest."

"In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks."

"In our best times everything turns into religion, all the world seems a church and the mountains altars."

"In the beauty and grandeur of individual trees, and in number and variety of species, the Sierra forests surpass all others."

"I ran home in the moonlight with firm strides; for the sun-love made me strong."

"In drying plants, botanists often dry themselves. Dry words and dry facts will not fire hearts."

"It seems supernatural, but only because it is not understood."

"Not blind opposition to progress,but opposition to blind progress."

"Let children walk with nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life."

"It was the afternoon of the day and the afternoon of his life, and his course was now westward down all the mountains into the sunset."

"Learn to live like the wild animals"

"Nothing dollarable is safe."

"One day's exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books."

"Raindrops blossom brilliantly in the rainbow, and change to flowers in the sod, but snow comes in full flower direct from the dark, frozen sky."

"Take me into the mountains."

"One must labor for beauty as for bread."

"Society speaks and all men listen, mountains speak and wise men listen."

"Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm."

"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt."

"One should go to the woods for safety, if for nothing else."

"The world, we are told, was made especially for man - a presumption not supported by all the facts."

"The making of gardens and parks goes on with civilization all over the world, and they increase both in size and number as their value is recognized."