Here are some nature and wilderness quotes from famous authors, artists, environmental activists, philosophers, and others. Enjoy them ā and if you aren’t there already ā get outside!
Table of Contents
- Claude Monet
- Albert Einstein
- Jacques Cousteau
- Rachel Carson
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Henry David Thoreau
- Emily Dickinson
- Walt Whitman
- Alice Walker
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Nature and Environment Quotes by Other Notable People
- Vincent Van Gogh
- John Muir
- Edward Abbey
- Jon Krakauer
- William Shakespeare
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Native American Quotes About Nature
- Chief Seattle
- Chief Joseph
- More Native American Quotes About Nature
Claude Monet
1.
“I owe perhaps becoming a painter to flowers.”
āClaude Monet
2.
āThe richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration.ā
āClaude Monet
Albert Einstein
3.
āLook deep into nature, and you will understand everything better.ā
āAlbert Einstein
4.
āThe most beautiful gift of nature is that it gives one pleasure to look around and try to comprehend what we see.ā
āAlbert Einstein
Jacques Cousteau
5.
āWe forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.ā
āJacques-Yves Cousteau
6.
āPeople protect what they love.ā
āJacques-Yves Cousteau
7.
āThe sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.ā
āJacques-Yves Cousteau
8.
āThe sea is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.ā
āJacques-Yves Cousteau
9.
āFor most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.ā
āJacques-Yves Cousteau
10.
āWater and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.ā
āJacques-Yves Cousteau
11.
“Rain is grace.ā
āJohn Updike
12.
āCome forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.ā
āWilliam Wordsworth
13.
āIt is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon menās hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.ā
āRobert Louis Stevenson
14.
āHe is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.ā
āSocrates
15.
āI have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.ā
āGalileo Galilei
16.
āIf you can’t be in awe of Mother Nature, there’s something wrong with you.ā
āAlex Trebek
17.
āPerhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.ā
āWallace Stevens
18.
āNature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own.ā
āCharles Dickens
19.
āNature’s beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude.ā
āLouie Schwartzberg
20.
āNature is the art of God.ā
āDante Alighieri
Rachel Carson
21.
āThere is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature ā the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.ā
āRachel Carson
22.
āThose who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.ā
āRachel Carson
23.
āThe question is whether any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized.ā
āRachel Carson
24.
āThe more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.ā
āRachel Carson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
25.
āNature always wears the colors of the spirit.ā
āRalph Waldo Emerson
26.
“The Earth laughs in flowers.”
āRalph Waldo Emerson
27.
āAdopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.ā
āRalph Waldo Emerson
28.
āNature never hurries. Atom by atom, little by little, she achieves her work.ā
āRalph Waldo Emerson
29.
āNature is loved by what is best in us.ā
āRalph Waldo Emerson
30.
āI am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages.ā
āRalph Waldo Emerson
31.
āIn the woods, we return to reason and faith.ā
āRalph Waldo Emerson
32.
āIn the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows.ā
āRalph Waldo Emerson
Henry David Thoreau
33.
āShall I not have intelligence with the Earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mold myself.ā
āHenry David Thoreau
34.
āIn the wilderness is the salvation of the world.ā
āHenry David Thoreau
35.
āHeaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.ā
āHenry David Thoreau
36.
āLive in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the Earth.ā
āHenry David Thoreau
37.
āIf a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the Earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.ā
āHenry David Thoreau
Emily Dickinson
38.
āHow strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!ā
āEmily Dickinson
39.
āNature is our eldest mother; she will do no harm.ā
āEmily Dickinson
Walt Whitman
40.
āNow I see the secret of the making of the best persons: It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the Earth.ā
āWalt Whitman
41.
āI believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars.ā
āWalt Whitman
42.
āNow I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the Earth.ā
āWalt Whitman
Alice Walker
43.
“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.”
āAlice Walker
44.
“I understood at a very early age that in nature, I felt everything I should feel in church but never did. Walking in the woods, I felt in touch with the Universe and with the spirit of the Universe.”
āAlice Walker
45.
āI felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery ā air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, āThis is what it is to be happy.āā
āSylvia Plath
46.
āMy soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth’s loveliness.ā
āMichelangelo
47.
āChoose only one master: Natureā
āRembrandt
Frank Lloyd Wright
48.
āStudy nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.ā
āFrank Lloyd Wright
49.
āI believe in God, only I spell it Nature.ā
āFrank Lloyd Wright
Nature and Environment Quotes by Other Notable People
50.
āThere is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.ā
āLinda Hogan
51.
āNature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy.ā
āSir Isaac Newton
52.
āWhere flowers bloom, so does hope.ā
āLady Bird Johnson
53.
āNature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.ā
āLao Tzu
54.
āLook at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in being.ā
āEckhart Tolle
55.
āEarth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach of us more than we can ever learn from books.ā
āJohn Lubbock
56.
āLike music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.ā
āJimmy Carter
57.
āJust living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.ā
āHans Christian Andersen
58.
āThe poetry of the Earth is never dead.ā
āJohn Keats
59.
āIn all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.ā
āAristotle
60.
āI can find God in nature, in animals, in birds and the environment.ā
āPat Buckley
61.
āI go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.ā
āJohn Burroughs
62.
āTo sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon the verdant green hills is the most perfect refreshment.ā
āJane Austin
63.
āNature is less expensive than therapy.ā
āUnknown
64.
āButterflies are self-propelled flowers.ā
āRobert A. Heinlein
65.
āWe do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.ā
āWilliam Hazlett
66.
āLove is a chain of love as nature is a chain of life.ā
āTruman Capote
67.
āIn wilderness, I sense the miracle of life, and behind it, our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.
āCharles Lindbergh
68.
āSpring is nature’s way of saying, āLet’s party!āā
āRobin Williams
Vincent Van Gogh
69.
āI have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?ā
āVincent Van Gogh
70.
āIf you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.ā
āVincent Van Gogh
71.
āThere is pleasure in the pathless woods. There is rapture on the lonely shore. There is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea and music in its roar. I love not man the less, but Nature more.ā
āLord Byron
72.
āThe goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.ā
āJoseph Campbell
73.
āEvery flower is a soul blossoming in nature.ā
āGĆ©rard De Nerval
74.
āMother Nature speaks in a language understood within the peaceful mind of the sincere observer.ā
āRadhanath Swami
75.
āThe world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.ā
āe. e. cummings
76.
āI think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.ā
āJoyce Kilmer
77.
āI believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful ā an endless prospect of magic and wonder.ā
āAnsel Adams
John Muir
78.
āThe mountains are calling, and I must go.ā
āJohn Muir
79.
āIn every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.ā
āJohn Muir
80.
āThe clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.ā
āJohn Muir
81.
āWhen one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.ā
āJohn Muir
82.
āEverybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.ā
āJohn Muir
83.
āGoing to the mountains is going home.ā
āJohn Muir
84.
āMost people are on the world, not in it.ā
āJohn Muir
85.
āAnd into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul.ā
āJohn Muir
86.
āIn God’s wildness lies the hope of the world.ā
āJohn Muir
87.
āClimb 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.ā
āJohn Muir
88.
āSociety speaks, and all men listen; mountains speak, and wise men listen.ā
āJohn Muir
89.
āWilderness is a necessity. There must be places for human beings to satisfy their souls.ā
āJohn Muir
Edward Abbey
90.
āThe idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.ā
āEdward Abbey
91.
āMay your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.ā
āEdward Abbey
92.
āLove 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.ā
āEdward Abbey
93.
āWilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.ā
āEdward Abbey
94.
āNature is indifferent to our love, but never unfaithful.ā
āEdward Abbey
95.
āWe need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope.ā
āEdward Abbey
96.
āWhy this cult of wilderness? Because we like the taste of freedom; because we like the smell of danger.ā
āEdward Abbey
Jon Krakauer
97.
āThe very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences.ā
āJon Krakauer
98.
āI now walk into the wild.ā
āJon Krakauer, Into the Wild
99.
āThe thing that is most beautiful about Antarctica for me is the light. It’s like no other light on Earth, because the air is so free of impurities. You get drugged by it, like when you listen to one of your favorite songs. The light there is a mood-enhancing substance.ā
āJon Krakauer
100.
āThe way to Everest is not a Yellow Brick Road.ā
āJon Krakauer
101.
āI think part of the appeal of Antarctica is experiencing some sort of power, the forces of the natural world.ā
āJon Krakauer
102.
āMountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.ā
āAnatoli Boukreev
103.
āTo me, wilderness is where the flow of wildness is essentially uninterrupted by technology. Without wilderness the world is a cage.ā
āDavid Brower
104.
āWe must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.ā
āJohn Hope Franklin
105.
āThe wilderness is a place that every believer has to experience to be molded for their divine purpose.ā
āE’yen a. Gardner
106.
āThe wilderness is healing, a therapy for the soul.ā
āNicholas Kristof
107.
āWhen we heal the Earth, we heal ourselves.ā
āDavid Orr
108.
āIn the wilderness, we experience the faithfulness of God.ā
āLailah Gifty Akita
109.
āThe wilderness is a place of rest ā 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.ā
āDavid Douglas
110.
āWilderness gave us knowledge. It 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.ā
āBoyd Norton
111.
āWithout wilderness, we will eventually lose the capacity to understand America. Our drive, our ruggedness, our unquenchable optimism and zeal and Ć©lan go back to the challenges of the untrammeled wilderness.ā
āHarvey Broome
112.
āThe wilderness is a place of an encounter with the creator.ā
āLailah Gifty Akita
113.
āEarth provides enough to satisfy every manās need, but not every manās greed.ā
āMahatma Gandhi
114.
āForget not that the Earth delights to feel your bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair.ā
āKhalil Gibran
115.
āThe Earth is what we all have in common.ā
āWendell Berry
116.
āLove the world as your own self, then you can truly care for all things.ā
āLao Tzu
William Shakespeare
117.
āThe Earth has music for those who listen.ā
āWilliam Shakespeare
118.
āOne touch of nature makes the whole world kin.ā
āWilliam Shakespeare
119.
āI really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours.ā
āKurt Vonnegut
120.
“I think when a surfer becomes a surfer, it’s almost like an obligation to be an environmentalist at the same time.”
āKelly Slater
121.
āI believe the American people care a lot about the environment.ā
āRobert Redford
122.
āA thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.ā
āAldo Leopold
123.
āWilderness is harder and harder to find these days on this beautiful planet, and we’re abusing our planet to the point of almost no return.ā
āBetty White
124.
āThe first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them.ā
āPaul Hawken
125.
āDestroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.ā
āE.O. Wilson
126.
āSomething will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed. We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.ā
āWallace Stegner
Theodore Roosevelt
127.
āLeave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.ā
āTheodore Roosevelt
128.
āThere are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm.ā
āTheodore Roosevelt
Native American Quotes About Nature
129.
āIn our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.ā
āUnknown, Iroquois Proverb
130.
āOne does not sell the Earth upon which the people walk.ā
āCrazy Horse, Lakota Sioux Nation
131.
āWe must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren, and children ā yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who canāt speak for themselves, such as the birds, animals, fish, and trees.ā
āQwatsinas, Nuxalk Nation
132.
āTake nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints!ā
āChief Si ahl, Duwamish and Suquamish Nations
Chief Seattle
133.
āHumankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.ā
āChief Seattle, Duwamish and Suquamish Nations
134.
āWhen the Earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear. When that happens, the warriors of the rainbow will come to save them.ā
āChief Seattle, Duwamish and Suquamish Nations
135.
“All things share the same breath ā the beast, the tree, the man… The air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.”
āChief Seattle
136.
“Humans merely share the Earth. We can only protect the land, not own it.”
āChief Seattle
137.
āTreat the Earth with reverence. It was not given to us by our parents; it was loaned to us by our children.ā
āUnknown, Native American Proverb
138.
āTeach us to walk the soft Earth as relatives to all that live.ā
āSioux Prayer
139.
āThe Holy Land is everywhereā
āBlack Elk, Lakota Sioux Nation
140.
āThe Great Spirit is in all things, he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us, that which we put into the ground she returns to us.ā
āBig Thunder, Wabanaki Algonquin Nation
141.
āWalk lightly in the spring; Mother Earth is pregnant.ā
ā Unknown, Kiowa Nation Proverb
Chief Joseph
142.
“The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.”
āChief Joseph
143.
āWe live, we die, and like the grass and trees, renew ourselves from the soft Earth of the grave. Stones crumble and decay, faiths grow old and they are forgotten, but new beliefs are born. The faith of the villages is dust now… but it will grow again… like the trees.ā
āChief Joseph, Nez Perce Nation
144.
āI love the land of winding waters more than all the rest of the world. A man who would not love his fatherās grave is worse than a wild animal.ā
āChief Joseph, Nez Perce Nation
More Native American Quotes About Nature
145.
āOnly to the white man was nature a wilderness, and only to him was the land infested’ with wild animals and savage people. To us it was tame, Earth was bountiful, and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery.ā
āBlack Elk, Oglala Lakota Sioux Nation
146.
āThe ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the dust and blood of our ancestors.ā
āChief Plenty Coups, Crow Nation
147.
āWe are the natural nurturers of the Earth Mother. The Earth Mother needs our help, she needs our prayers.ā
āAgnes Baker-Pilgrim, Takelma Nation
148.
āThe frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.ā
āUnknown, Native American Proverb
149.
āI was warmed by the sun, rocked by the winds and sheltered by the trees, as other Indian babes. I can go everywhere with a good feeling.ā āGeronimo, Apache Nation
150.
āThe land is sacred. These words are at the core of your being. The land is our mother, the rivers our blood. Take our land away and we die. That is, the Indian in us dies.ā
āMary Brave Bird, Sicangu Oyate Lakota Sioux Nation
151.
āThe ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the blood of our ancestors.ā
āPlenty Coups, Crow Nation
152.
The Great Spirit is in all things: he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our father, but the Earth is our mother. She nourishes us; that which we put into the ground she returns to us.ā
āBig Thunder Wabanaki, Algonquin Nation
153.
āWhen man moves away from nature, his heart becomes hard.ā
āLuther Standing Bear, Lakota Sioux Nation
2 Responses
Really nice bouquet of quotes. It absolutely resonated with me. Thank you.
They did with me too! Thank you for your comment.