John Muir

The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, one finds it attached to the rest of the world.

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.

The world we are told was made especially for man

A presumption not supported by all the facts.

The mountains are calling and I must go.

Climb 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.

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.

There is a love of wild nature in everybody, an ancient mother love, showing itself whether recognized or not, and however covered by cares and duties.

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

I'd rather be in the mountains thinking of God than in church thinking about the mountains.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.