Culture and Lifestyle Quotes and Sayings 70 Mountain Quotes To Ignite Your Sense Of Adventure Powerful Enough To Inspire On The Flattest Of Days By Nellah Bailey McGough Nellah Bailey McGough Nellah McGough runs the day-to-day operations in the Southern Living Birmingham office, responds to reader questions and comments, manages freelancer contracts, and invoices. She is also the co-host (with Steve Bender) of Ask Grumpy Podcast. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on July 26, 2024 Close Photo: Chris Murray/Getty Images These powerful mountain quotes will inspire you to take the next challenge. The majesty of the mountains is a year-round magic—spring with its budding flowers, summer with lush green trails, fall with foliage ablaze, and winter with snow-capped peaks. That steady yet cyclical splendor follows you home, even if your closest mountain town is states away. A memory of time spent mountainside can be powerful enough to inspire the flattest of days. It can push you to find beauty in the ordinary or challenge you to climb higher through any difficult task life throws your way. It's no wonder there are so many famous, inspiring mountain quotes by notable authors and even past presidents. Use these quotes as an Instagram caption, for inspiration, or to motivate yourself to face a challenge. From short sayings and climbing quotes to sensory-evoking messages from John Muir and joyful expressions from Dr. Seuss, we've compiled some of our favorite quotes about mountains that are sure to move you. The Ultimate Great Smoky Mountains Guide 01 of 05 Short Mountain Quotes Southern Living "The mountains are calling, and I must go." —John Muir"What are men to rocks and mountains?" —Jane Austen"Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains." —William Shakespeare"Each fresh peak ascended teaches something." —Sir Martin Convay"Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory." —Ed Viesturs"Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing." —Barry Finlay"Life's a bit like mountaineering—never look down." —Edmund Hillary"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings." —John Muir"The best view comes after the hardest climb." —Vanessa Gendoma“Every man should pull a boat over a mountain once in his life.” —Werner Herzog“How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!” —John Muir"Beyond the mountains, more mountains.” —Haitian proverb"The last word always belongs to the mountain.” —Anatoli Boukreev"We cannot lower the mountain, therefore we must elevate ourselves." —Todd Skinner“Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.” —Theodore Roethke“Life is a mountain of solvable problems, and I enjoy that.” —James Dyson“In the mountains there are only two grades: you can either do it, or you can’t.” —Rusty Baillie“When preparing to climb a mountain, pack a light heart.” —Dan May“The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.” —Conrad Anker“You can’t move mountains by whispering at them.” —Unknown“I learn something every time I go into the mountains.” —Michael Kennedy“Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long.” —George Bernard Shaw“The cliche is that life is a mountain. You go up, reach the top and then go down.” —Jeanne Moreau“The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.” —Robert M. Pirsig 02 of 05 Motivational Mountain Quotes Southern Living "Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So…get on your way!" —Dr. Seuss"Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was." —Dag Hammerskjold"Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb." —Greg Child“The way up to the top of the mountain is always longer than you think. Don’t fool yourself, the moment will arrive when what seemed so near is still very far." —Paul Coelho“The mountains were his masters. They rimmed in life. They were the cup of reality, beyond growth, beyond struggle and death. They were his absolute unity in the midst of eternal change.” —Thomas Wolfe“Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than what we could learn from books.” —John Lubbock“Mountains are not Stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.” —Anatoli Boukreev“Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.” —David McCullough Jr.“There's no glory in climbing a mountain if all you want to do is to get to the top. It's experiencing the climb itself—in all its moments of revelation, heartbreak, and fatigue—that has to be the goal.” —Karyn Kusama“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” —Andy Rooney"One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time." —Barbara Walters“There is a world out there, and you have got to look at both sides of the mountain in your lifetime.” —Bill Janklow 03 of 05 Mountain Quotes About Challenges Southern Living "It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wears you out; it's the pebble in your shoe." —Muhammad Ali"No matter how tall the mountain is, it cannot block the sun." —Chinese Proverb"We've climbed the mighty mountain. I see the valley below, and it's a valley of peace." —George W. Bush"Mountains know secrets we need to learn. That it might take time, it might be hard, but if you just hold on long enough, you will find strength to rise up." —Tyler Knott“Great things are done when men and mountains meet; This is not done by jostling in the street.” —William Blake“You don't climb mountains without a team, you don't climb mountains without being fit, you don't climb mountains without being prepared and you don't climb mountains without balancing the risks and rewards. And you never climb a mountain on accident—it has to be intentional.” —Mark Udall“When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome.” —Wilma Rudolph“The choices we make lead up to actual experiences. It is one thing to decide to climb a mountain. It is quite another to be on top of it.” —Herbert A. Simon“I take all day to climb mountains and then spend about 10 minutes at the top admiring the view.” —Sebastian Thrun"I've realized that at the top of the mountain, there's another mountain." – Andrew Garfield“It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” — Sir Edmund Hillary“It is very tough to climb a mountain. However, it is not as tough as convincing yourself that you can climb it.” ―Bhuwan Thapaliya"If you don't have a mountain, build one and then climb it. And after you climb it, build another one; otherwise you start to flatline in your life." —Sylvester Stallone"Sometimes you come up against a mountain and you end up making the mountain seem bigger than God." —Jeremy Lin“When faced with a large project, remember you move a mountain one stone at a time.” —Catherine Pulsifer“Your faith can move mountains and your doubt can create them.” —Swami Vivekananda“In the mountains, you are sometimes invited, sometimes tolerated, and sometimes told to go home.” —Fred Beckey 04 of 05 Inspirational Mountain Quotes Southern Living "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees." —John Muir"In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks." —John Muir"We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us." —John Muir"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go." —T. S. Eliot"May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits." —Harley King“The greatest gift of life on the mountain is time. Time to think or not think, read or not read, scribble or not scribble—to sleep and cook and walk in the woods, to sit and stare at the shapes of the hills.” —Phillip Connors“I'm a person of the mountains and the open paddocks and the big empty sky, that's me, and I knew if I spent too long away from all that I'd die; I don't know what of, I just knew I'd die.” —John Marsden“What draws us from the low valleys to the high mountains is that noble stance of the summits!” —Mehmet Murat ildan“Mountains, according to the angle of view, the season, the time of day, the beholder’s frame of mind, or any one thing, can effectively change their appearance. Thus, it is essential to recognize that we can never know more than one side, one small aspect of a mountain.” —Haruki Murakami“Always be thankful for the little things…even the smallest mountains can hide the most breathtaking views.” —Nyki Mack“Mountain top: the place where life finds the purest meaning of freedom.” ― Vinicius Montgomery 05 of 05 Quotes About The Majesty Of Mountains Southern Living "Only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain." —Richard Nixon"I like the mountains because they make me feel small. They help me sort out what's important in life." —Mark Obmascik“Those who travel to mountain-tops are half in love with themselves, and half in love with oblivion.” —Robert Macfarlane“He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary.” —Friedrich Nietzsche“No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied—it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.” —Ansel Adams“The mountains are a reminder of the power and majesty of nature, and of our own smallness in the face of it.” ―Ajaz Ahmad Khawaja Under-the-Radar Mountain Getaways Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit