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; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.

John Muir
About This Quote

John Muir, a naturalist and conservationist, said: “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; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.” The idea that going to the mountains is going home refers to the concept that people can find peace and happiness in nature. In his autobiography “A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf,” Muir wrote: "I want to go back home. I want to go back to the Sierra Nevada Mountains where I find myself now very much at home." Though Muir was born in Scotland, he was a keen observer of the Sierra Nevada mountains. He described them as being "the great fountain of life." Muir's belief in the importance of wild spaces was shared by Teddy Roosevelt who said, “Wilderness should be treated as a consecrated ground – a holy place – a sanctuary – a refuge from which all save hunters should be excluded.”

Source: Our National Parks

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More Quotes By John Muir
  1. On no subject are our ideas more warped and pitiable than on death.. Let children walk with nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams...
  2. When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
  3. This time it is real – all must die, and where could mountaineer find a more glorious death!
  4. Yet how hard most people work for mere dust and ashes and care, taking no thought of growing in knowledge and grace, never having time to get in sight of their own ignorance.
  5. Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.
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