Nature has shaped my heart and soul my entire life. I’ve always lived in it and with it, and to live without it is unthinkable. So naturally it’s a keystone of my fiction. Wild places are a main theme in all of my stories. Some characters like Tayla Lyon (Stop Down) find refuge and healing in the wilderness. For Jimmy Swain (Road Damage) the mountains are something to be survived. And for others like Troy Hart (Summer Star) and Toby Maddox (For The Dead) the wilds are a maze of beauty, secrets, and ghosts. But for all of them the wilderness is life changing, as it has been for me.

As both a writer and an orophile — someone with a deep appreciation for mountains — nature quotes usually catch my eye and many of them capture my imagination. I’d like to share a few of my favorites along with some of my photography that they have inspired. I hope they inspire you, too.

First, a selection from the iconic nature writer John Muir:

The mountains are calling and I must go.

Going to the mountains is going home.

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.

Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.

Between every two pines there is a doorway to a new world.

Of course John Muir wasn’t the only one moved enough by nature to capture some of its essence in words.

By discovering nature, you discover yourself. ~ Maxime Lagacé

Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature is not a place to visit. It is home. ~ Gary Snyder

Colors are the smiles of nature. ~ Leigh Hunt

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order. ~ John Burroughs

I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees. ~ Henry David Thoreau

The poetry of the earth is never dead. ~ John Keats

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~ Margaret Atwood

Time spent amongst trees is never time wasted. ~ Katrina Mayer

There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them. ~ Jo Walton

Leave the road, take the trails. ~ Pythagoras

The earth has music for those who listen. ~ William Shakespeare

And finally one that pretty wells sums it all up for me and my pack.

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy. ~ John Denver

Me too, John. Me too.

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