Not blind opposition to progress,but opposition to blind progress. John Muir More Quotes by John Muir More Quotes From John Muir So abundant and novel are the objects of interest in a pure wilderness that unless you are pursuing special studies it matters little where you go, or how often to the same place. Wherever you chance to be always seems at the moment of all places the best; and you feel that there can be no happiness in this world or in any other for those who may not be happy there. John Muir specialmayworld [Concerning the Water Ouzel, now called American Dipper:] In a general way his music is that of the streams refined and spiritualized. The deep booming notes of the falls are in it, the trills of rapids, the gurgling of margin eddies, the low whispering of level reaches, and the sweet tinkle of separate drops oozing from the ends of mosses and falling into tranquil pools. John Muir sweetwaterfall I am very blessed. The Valley is full of people, but they do not annoy me. I revolve in pathless places and in higher rocks than the world and his ribbony wife can reach. John Muir rocksblessedpeople When I first caught sight of (Mount Shasta) over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley I was fifty miles away and afoot, alone and weary. Yet all my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since. John Muir winesightblood Go quietly alone, no harm will befall you. John Muir wildernessenvironmentalharm Nothing can be done well at a speed of forty miles a day. The multitude of mixed, novel impressions rapidly piled on one another make only a dreamy, bewildering, swirling blur, most of which is unrememberable. John Muir milesspeeddone Perhaps the profession of doing good may be full, but every body should be kind at least to himself. Take a course of good water and air, and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you. Some have strange, morbid fears as soon as they find themselves with Nature, even in the kindest and wildest of her solitudes, like very sick children afraid of their mother-as if God were dead and the devil were king. John Muir kingsmotherchildren Nature had gathered her choicest treasures , to draw her lovers into close and confiding communion with her John Muir communiontreasurelovers When I discovered a new plant, I sat down beside it for a minute or a day, to make its acquaintance and hear what it had to tell... I asked the boulders I met, whence they came and whither they were going. John Muir bouldersminutesplant Everybody needs beauty as well as bread. John Muir naturebeautifulbeauty Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. John Muir yellowstonehikinggarden What is worthwhile in life? I think it is worth living and dreaming. If you don't you may be dead anyhow - inside. John Muir dreamadventurethinking All Nature's wildness tells the same story: the shocks and outbursts of earthquakes, volcanoes, geysers, roaring, thundering waves and floods, the silent uprush of sap in plants, storms of every sort, each and all, are the orderly, beauty-making love-beats of Nature's heart. John Muir volcanoesheartearthquakes Another glorious Sierra day in which one seems to be dissolved and absorbed and sent pulsing onward we know not where. Life seems neither long nor short, and we take no more heed to save time or make haste than do the trees and stars. This is true freedom, a good practical sort of immortality. John Muir starsspirituallong Uncle Sam is not often called a fool in business matters, yet he has sold millions of acres of timber land at two dollars and a half an acre on which a single tree was worth more than a hundred dollars. But this priceless land has been patented, and nothing can be done now about the crazy bargain.... a bad, black business from beginning to end. John Muir unclescrazyland ...therefore all childish fear must be put away. John Muir Most people are on the world, not in it. John Muir yosemiteadventurepeople ...full of God's thoughts, a place of peace and safety amid the most exalted grandeur and enthusiastic action, a new song, a place of beginnings abounding in first lessons of life, mountain building, eternal, invincible, unbreakable order; with sermons in stone, storms, trees, flowers, and animals brimful with humanity. John Muir life-lessonflowersong They tell us that plants are not like man immortal, but are perishable-soul -less. I think that is something that we know exactly nothing about. John Muir soulmenthinking Wherever we go in the mountains, we find more than we seek. John Muir mountain
