If I wasn’t a hiker I would never have started this blog, I wouldn’t have walked the Camino, hiked all over the Rockies, and into the bargain found something that I love and keeps me reasonably fit.
No other form of exercise is as simple as hiking and walking. It’s a kind of activity that almost anyone can engage in and comes with many physical and mental benefits. People are even able to hike for charity. Walking allows people to reconnect with their thoughts, challenge their bodies, and meet and befriend many like-minded people and it can also change their lives.
However, even though most of us know about the benefits of walking, sometimes we may need a little inspiration. Whether you’re planning an afternoon wander along the coast, a strenuous mountain climb, or a long trip through the woods, the following walking quotes will motivate you to take your hiking shoes and get out on the trail.
Best Mountain Hiking Quotes From Inspired Storytellers
1. Pain Reminds me I am Alive
Me
I don’t know what this says about me when my favorite hiking quote is my own creation. This was one that I came up with while walking the Camino de Santiago. I started off in the South of France with blisters before taking my first step. The previous day I had walked around a very hot Paris in sandals and developed a few blisters.
For the first week of my Camino, I tightly wrapped my heels before starting each day. It was only sore for a short period and my mantra kept me going and helped me develop gratitude for just being where I was.
2. The danger of adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort.
Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho was also a hiker and walked the Camino long before it became so popular again. I am getting on a plane tomorrow and flying to Scotland. I will go hiking and walk up Ben Lomond, a small mountain I have walked at least ten times before. Hiking routes are like music I can walk them again and again.
Alternatively, I could stay at home and stay safe. It is a very short life, grab it and play.
In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.
John Muir
And this from a man who knew what he was talking about when it comes to hiking. There won’t be many hikers that haven’t heard of the John Muir Trail a 213 mile trail in California.
- Walking is a man’s best medicine.” – Hippocrates
- “If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet.” – Rachel Wolchin
- “History begins at ground level, with footsteps.” – Michel de Certeau
- “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
- “If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.” – Raymond Myers
- “After a day’s walk everything has twice its usual value.” – George Macauley Trevelyan
- “Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills
- “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
- “Travelers, there is no path, paths are made by walking.” – Antonio Machado
- “There is nothing healthier for a man than to walk on his own two legs.” – José Saramago
- “Walking makes the world much bigger and therefore more interesting.” – Edward Abbey
- “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
- “Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.” – Rachel Carson
- “Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul.” – Jaime Lyn
- “Every step of the walk unburdens us of what we have just seen and thought while it simultaneously thrusts us into the previously unknown.” – Jeffrey Robinson
- “It is not talking but walking that will bring us to heaven.” – Matthew Henry
- “Man’s real home is not a house, but the Road, and that life itself is a journey to be walked on foot.” – Bruce Chatwin
- “The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.” – Robert Frost
- “To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.” – Mary Davis
- “Above all, do not lose your desire to walk.” – Soren Kierkegaard
- “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” – Frank A. Clark
- “I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” – Rosalia de Castro
- “It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on walks.” – Anatole France
- “Truth itself wanders through the forests.” – Werner Herzog
- “I could never resist the call of the trail.” – Buffalo Bill
- “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread.” – Edward Abbey
- “Not all who wander are lost” – J.R.R. Tolkien
- “Walking is good for solving problems – it’s like the feet are little psychiatrists.” – Pepper Giardino
- “Walking is the favorite sport of the good and wise.” – A. L. Rowse
- “I can remember walking as a child. It was not customary to say you were fatigued. It was customary to complete the goal of the expedition.” – Katharine Hepburn
- “Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” – Gary Snyder
- “Go out, go out I beg of you, and taste the beauty of the wild. Behold the miracle of the earth with all the wonder of a child.” – Edna Jaques
- “Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.” – Thomas Jefferson
- “I can only meditate when I am walking, when I stop I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- “Make your feet your friend.” – James M. Barrie
- “He who limps is still walking.” – Stanislaw Lec
- “I believe in evolution. But I also believe, when I hike the Grand Canyon and see it at sunset, that the hand of God is there also.” – John McCain
- “My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.” – Aldous Huxley
- “The destiny of every walking man is to immerse himself in the panorama surrounding him, to the point of becoming one with it, and ultimately, to vanish.” – Federico Castigliano
- “We don’t stop hiking because we grow old, we grow old because we stop hiking.” – Finis Mitchell
- “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” – Edward Abbey
- “If you are in a bad mood go for a walk. If you are still in a bad mood go for another walk.” – Hippocrates
- “The long-distance hiker, a breed set apart, from the likes of the usual pack. He’ll shoulder his gear, be hittin’ the trail; long gone, long ‘fore he’ll be back.” – M.J. Eberhart
- “Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints.” – Chief Seattle
- “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods… I love not Man the less, but Nature more…” – Lord Byron
- “We live in a fast-paced society. Walking slows us down.” – Robert Sweetgall
- “People don’t take trips, trips take people.” – John Steinbeck
- “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” – John Burroughs
- “Walking . . . is how the body measures itself against the earth.” – Rebecca Solnit
- “I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “The best remedy for a short temper is a long walk.” – Joseph Joubert
- “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” – T.S. Eliot
- “A walk in nature walks the soul back home.” – Mary Davis
- “Thoughts come clearly while one walks.” – Thomas Mann
- “Happiness walks on busy feet.” – Kitte Turmell
- “Walking is the natural recreation for a person who desires not absolutely to suppress his intellect but to turn it out to play for a season.” – Leslie Stephen
- “Walking has something in it which animates and heightens my ideas: I can scarcely think when I stay in one place.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- “The longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key.” – Edward Abbey
- “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are built for.” – John A. Shedd
- “Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” – John Muir
- “Walking takes longer…than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed.” – Edward Abbey
Those are my favorite best hiking quotes. If you have any to add to the list just let me know in the comments below.
I love hiking, backpacking, and camping. From the Camino de Santiago to the West Highland Way in Scotland or simply a great day hike on the weekend. Hiking refreshes me, my mind, and keeps my body reasonably fit. So far I have walked three Camino routes and many other long distance hikes in the UK, Canada, and around the rest of Europe. One of the best was my hike up Ben Nevis.
Thank you for your collection of walking quotes. Since I am unable to walk they inspired me. SM